We all have them in our lives.

Trump lovers, Bernie supporters, birthers, 9/11 truthers, and people who send you a voicemail/text/email and then stop by your desk two seconds later because they need a response.

Here’s how to work with stupid people.

  1. Smile. Pause. Breathe. It diffuses the stupidity.
  2. Begin with praise. We’re all narcissists. Works for everybody.
  3. Speak slowly and user fewer words. Cognitive processing speeds are sluggish.
  4. End your sentences with a declarative statement. Inflect down. Don’t invite follow-up questions with your tone.
  5. Be non-controversial whenever you can. Boring is the new black.
  6. Don’t gossip. It invites more questions.
  7. Look busy. Have something in your hand. Point to a pile of papers nearby. Shrug your shoulders. You’ve got to go back to work. Blame the man.
  8. Feel someone’s pain but move on. You can’t go wrong by adding a nod. But go back to number 7. Those papers on your desk aren’t going to sort themselves.
  9. You could sigh deeply, too.
  10. Never hurts to say, “It is what it is.”
  11. Speak in bullet points. If you truly need information from someone stupid, break the question into three parts and say, “I need three things from you.” Pause between each bullet. Speak slowly. Have a notepad in your hand, write the answers down, and walk away because you have to ‘enter this information into the computer’.
  12. Be sympathetic. Not everybody operates at 100%. Sometimes stupidity is stress, exhaustion, depression or disengagement.
  13. Be considerate. Just because someone is stupid doesn’t mean she isn’t contributing in some capacity.
  14. Be kind. Sometimes you’re an idiot.
Category: Work6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. A solid article with good general guidelines, but I’d suggest losing the introductory paragraph where you call large groups of people stupid because they support a particular political candidate. As a Sanders supporter sick and tired of all the negativity this election cycle, I almost gave the article a pass after being told in the second sentence that I’m stupid. I cannot be alone in that reaction.

    Anyway, glad I read it. Maybe after the elections are over I will check out your other stuff.

    • I’m just joking about Sanders. I like to poke, but honestly, Bernie is fine. He’s not my guy, but I like a lot of his positions. Thanks for reading my blog. 🙂

    • I thought it was clever, especially since they piece ended with remind you (the reader) that you’re stupid too.

  3. In response to the comment from Jim Beecher, I too am tired of all of the negativity from both sides of this election. However, perhaps it’s because I’m neither a Trump nor a Sanders supporter, but because you poked both sides of the bear, it was clear to me that your opening sentence was intended to make us laugh. Had you only poked one side, I probably wouldn’t have read the article, assuming that it would be more negativity from one side of the fence aimed at the other.

  4. I felt like you covered almost everyone in that first paragraph – hilarious. We can all be stupid. But some more than others.

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