I would have made fewer enemies if I’d learned earlier in life that it can threaten someone’s status when you shine a light on their flaws—and that goes beyond just correcting errors. Making suggestions can imply that a person was doing something wrong. Requesting something can imply that a person neglected to provide that thing already. Offering to help can imply that I don’t trust a person’s ability. Sometimes, those implications are true. More often, though, it never crosses my mind that someone might read into it that way, until I get a snide reaction.
