Yes sir. No sir. No excuse, sir.

I drove over to the west side of the state yesterday to have a "date" with Belladonna.

She is stressing.  She has been letting somebody get inside her head and messing with her.

OK, dad...how do you do it?
Her impression is that a lot of shit that folks try to shovel onto me just rolls off my back.  It does not even leave a track.  She said "It is like you turned off your hearing aids and don't even hear them...except I know that you don't have hearing aids."

I had to think about it a little bit to come up with "the secret".

"Don't respond to anything that is not a question that is directly asked of you."

Example:

"You are a son-of-a-bitch."

Is that a question that was directed to you?  Nope, it is not even a question.  It is a statement of opinion.  Is the other person entitled to his opinion, even if it is wrong?  Yup.  Is the idiot endangering himself or others by uttering that opinion?  Well, maybe.  You probably owe the motor-mouth a warning before you knock his teeth out.

There is no reason to become engaged; intellectually emotionally or physically .because. the speaker did not ask a question.  In fact, you do not even need to listen to the words.  Questions typically end on an up-lilt and your subconscious has plenty of CPU and Buffer for that application.

"You are a failure.  You are trying to sabotage me by failing."

or

"What is the matter with you brain-dead, M-Fers?"

Neither statement is a question that was directed to you and you alone.  Is the idiot uttering the opinion endangering himself or others?  Nope....no response required nor is any response appropriate.  They are just trying to pick a fight.

If you cannot answer with "Yes sir.", "No sir."  or "No excuse, sir." then let the bonehead blather.  It might be the only way he can get oxygen to his brain.

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These rules do not apply if you are in a supervisory position.  One reason why it sucks to be a supervisor.