A server once approached my table mid-conversation on her personal phone. She looked at me and waited. No greeting, no acknowledgment — just the expectation that I would work around her. At a pharmacy, a clerk asked if I wanted to review my photos before paying. I said yes. They were unusable — streaky, colors completely off. When I refused to pay, he told me I had to. When I asked what the point of a quality review was if the outcome was the same either way, he threw up his

The foundation of effective communication is first in understanding ourselves and, second, in knowing and empathizing with the person or...