Situations when the interlocutor starts asking personal questions happen quite often. Poor upbringing, inability to feel personal boundaries, etc. can be the reasons for this curiosity. For work needs, personal questions can be asked by doctors, lawyers and personnel officers. There are many models of behavior in such situations, and the choice of the appropriate one depends on the interlocutor and his goals.
Instructions
Step 1
Set personal boundaries for the interlocutor, within which communication will be comfortable for you. Answer vaguely to a question that seems tactless to you. For example, tell someone who is interested in your salary that it is confidential information. And tell a neighbor who is trying to find out how you live with your “rude” husband that everything suits you. Remain open-minded as if you become known as withdrawn and unsociable, they will start to avoid you, and you will lose the joys of communication.
Step 2
Change the subject as soon as the conversation becomes sensitive. If you meet a friend in the clinic and she is interested in your health, say, for example, that you have a preventive examination and turn the conversation into another direction. Just in case, try to keep some interesting stories or news in hand to distract the curious.
Step 3
Use a sense of humor to help. Learning to laugh off every tricky question isn't easy, but the results are worth it. For example, tell a curious neighbor that you are an addicted person, so you always come home late from work.
Step 4
Transfer the conversation to the other person. In some cases, personal questions are asked in order to draw attention to their own situation. For example, a friend asks you about a relationship with her husband, but in fact she is worried about problems with her boyfriend.
Step 5
Finding a job is stressful in itself. And if the manager also asks sensitive questions during the interview, then it is very easy to get confused or lose his temper. In this case, you should constantly remember that he asks questions not out of curiosity, but out of necessity, and answer them briefly and friendly. In some cases, you can ask a counter question, transferring the conversation to the work plane. For example, if the HR officer is interested in having children, you might ask, "You are probably wondering if I can work overtime?"
Step 6
Refusing to answer a personal question must be friendly and correct. Justify your refusal by the fact that you do not want to talk about this topic or it is unpleasant for you. Keep in mind, however, that if your doctor asks a personal question, you must answer honestly and in detail.
