The No But Apology
During a recent session, a client was really stirred up over an interaction they had. I don’t remember which party apologized, but I do remember vividly the argument they had.
A three-letter word was the catalyst. One of them said they were sorry and then quickly wedged in the dreaded apology nullifier word – but… As it turned out, immediately after the but there was more blame and condescension.
People either don’t know how to apologize or find it incredibly hard to do. Yet, doing so can be incredibly cathartic and establishes a stronger bond between the speaker and listener.
In fear of dating myself, I remember a show when I was a kid called Happy Days. The main character of the show was called Fonzie. He was a really cool guy, but he had great difficulty ever admitting fault. It was quite funny watching him try to get out the words to apologize.