Well said justafriend.

I find that most times I start off with tact then if that keeps on not working I end up bring out the "DIRECT" baseball bat to see if I can get through their thick head.

I just realized that now that I live around people who are capable of listening & understanding what I say being tactful is so much easier & being direct is unnecessary.

Having grown up around parents who needed to be spoken to in a direct way for 21 years & then 33 years married to someone who needed everything spelled out.......it was such a relief to finally be away from that & learn how to normally communicate with people again. It actually took awhile to learn that direct was not necessary in my new environment but it was sure a peaceful feeling