Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange
Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [apologies]

For apologizing or dealing with apologies from others, as well as how to make one and also how to accept one in a certain way.

Being able to apologize when you're in the wrong is a useful trait to have. We all make mistakes and it's typically mistakes that lead to the necessity to make/receive an apology. Questions here are about apologizing to people, and can also about how to accept an apology from other people.

This tag can also be used with tags such as and also .

49 questions
86
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9 answers

Apologizing when you've hurt a stranger's feelings badly

Yesterday in vocational school I (mostly inadvertently) hurt someone's feelings very badly. In our IT class in vocational school, there is just one girl. She's pretty overweight. I don't know her well at all, essentially only from school, which is…
Magisch
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45
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5 answers

Angry at me for not coming over

I am dating a woman I met 2 weeks ago. We understand each other very well and like each other. For the past 4 days, she was away in her hometown and came back yesterday evening. During that time I had a terrible sore throat and constant coughing to…
MansNotHot
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42
votes
5 answers

How to apologize for sexual harassment in the past?

Every now and then, I'm reminded about something awful or embarrassing that I did, and this, sadly, includes sexual harassment, mostly in the form of - but not limited to - drunken messages or phone calls. I understand that the best thing to do is…
Adam Jensen
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31
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7 answers

How to reply to a message or email after a long delay?

I have a habit of taking a very long time to reply to emails and messages. Since some of these are from friends with whom this is my main form of contact (i.e. unless it is organised via messages and/or emails, I will never see or speak to these…
TheTermiteSociety
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30
votes
14 answers

Apologizing to an old roommate

This happened two decades ago where one of my roommates was friendly to me. But, I was rash, rude and had a condescending attitude and never acknowledged her friendly gestures. She helped me when I was ill but I was too ashamed of myself to thank…
user149332
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28
votes
7 answers

How to accept an apology, without implying that there was no problem?

An older man barges into me. While I think he could have prevented that, I don't assume he had any bad intentions. He then apologizes and I want to accept the apology, but how? Just saying "It's OK" doesn't feel right for me, since if everything is…
dhein
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27
votes
5 answers

How do I respond to someone apologizing for coughing/yawning?

Many times I'll be talking to someone and they'll yawn or cough (or something similar), then say "excuse me", or "sorry". I have no idea what type of response to give to this. If they'd sneezed, then that's no problem; I'd just say "bless you", and…
Lord Farquaad
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20
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5 answers

How should someone apologize when both parties were wrong?

The situation: I had been involved for several years in a group my child participates in and I was put in charge of a subgroup. Realizing I needed more adult assistance, I asked for help from an acquaintance who is the parent of one of my child's…
GreenMatt
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15
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4 answers

How do I reconnect with a friend after they tried once and I failed to respond

Background I've been out of college for about 4 years now, and during that time I've lost contact with one of my best friends. After I graduated college, I took a job in another city and moved about 1000 miles away. My friend and I kept in touch for…
Rainbacon
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14
votes
6 answers

How to respond to "I'm bothering you" when I do think they're bothering me?

Some days, people at work have interrupted me with menial questions many times a day. I sometimes get irritated to the point of not being able to keep a pleasant face when they say "I'm bothering you a lot today". Kids! One is too many! They wreck…
insanity
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14
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2 answers

How to apologise for how you said something without going back on the content

A long term friend (the trend on IPS seems to be to call her 'Alice') is a little promiscuous and quite often uses her charms to get guys to do things they wouldn't otherwise do. A guy we recently met has fallen for her and has been there for every…
FreeElk
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12
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3 answers

How to apologize to a person whom I scolded, long after the fact?

I scolded a fellow college student of mine based on a misunderstanding. Later on I realised it wasn't his mistake. Since we kept a not-bad friendship for more than 3 years, I would like to solve the issue and apologise to him. How should I do that?…
Sagar VD
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12
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4 answers

Apologize to a semi-romantic friend without implying a desire to get together after my break up

Context I recently exited a long term relationship (3+ years). During the last year and a half of the relationship I grew quite close with another friend. This came to a head about six months before my relationship ended, with the realization that…
user12212
11
votes
6 answers

How should a person be told to apologise when he thinks he isn't wrong?

A few days ago, in a Zoology class, one of my classmates was caught reading the Zoology textbook when the teacher was explaining. Although he wasn't reading anything that he wasn't supposed to, the teacher got mad at him for not paying attention and…
Abhigyan
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11
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2 answers

Issue an apology over inappropriate email

Yesterday, I had family and friends over at my house, and I left my computer unlocked, and during the evening, I forgot about it. After some time if my computer is inactive, it goes to sleep. After everyone left, I cleaned up and jumped into…
user19232
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