A short coaching video by Raele Altano about how to respond when someone says "you look tired." Raele demonstrates several brief, non-retaliatory replies (e.g., "Oh, really? How so?", "I feel great", "Can you go get me a coffee?", referencing an article) and advises against over-explaining personal reasons. She emphasizes reading the speaker's intent (concern vs. rudeness) and offers these lines to deflect, reframe, or set boundaries when faced with that comment.
Chapters
What to say when someone says, you look tired. This actually happened to me recently and even I froze up a little bit. I'm not gonna lie. So I don't want that happening to you. And I want to offer solutions that aren't retaliations or automatically stooping to the other person's level. So here we go. Oh, really? How so? I feel great. Oh, can you go get me a coffee? Then here's how I take it. Well, you know, I've read this thing online that it's actually not the best etiquette to talk about a person's appearance the second you see them. I'll send you the article. Is that supposed to be helpful? Yeah, as opposed to when. When's the last time we even saw each other? I don't really see a positive point to you saying that. As tempting as it might be, don't go into reasons why you are actually tired. That'll just give this person a deeper look into your business and give them more material to be condescending about. Also remember that context matters. We know the people who are saying something out of true concern or care and the ones who are just trying to be mean and mask something rude in a polite statement. I'm well with Rael, your communication coach. Save this video. Hopefully you never get this comment and never need it. But if you do, you are and prepared.
