I had to go through a two day course in sensitivity training required by my company. I decided that I would not say anything, to stay out of trouble. They got around that by calling on people who did not say anything. I almost made it through. Late in the second day I was asked something that I answered truthfully. I failed the course.
I was allowed to take it a second one rather than being fired. I was VERY careful what I said the second time.
In the late 70s the company where I worked had an operators meeting one afternoon after work.
There was a “motivational” speaker speaking on how we should motivate people to work by talking to them without hurting their feelings or some such.
They asked the operators one by one how they got their people to work and each one came up with some feel good BS on how they got their people to work by talking to them without hurting their feelings.
The VP of the company asked me how I got my crew to work since my crew was always the #1 crew each month on work done.
I told him if someone didn’t want to work I would leave for 30 minutes and let the rest of the crew “talk” to them.
When I came back the guy that didn’t want to work before was working or he was gone.
Funny thing the guys that left were a clumsy bunch they always seemed to fall on their face several times when they left the job.
If they’re contemptible enough to do something like that, the proper response is to return their contempt by lying to them.