When I sought out clarification on data provided to me in an excel spreadsheet at work today, I realized that sometimes you just aren't able to be helpful.
This applies to any situation: You may just not know the answer due to lack of knowledge on the subject, you may be familiar but it's not your expertise and you don't want to commit to an answer, or you may simply be new to a city, neighborhood, company and just clueless altogether. No one can fault you for not knowing.
BUT....there is a courteous way to be unhelpful.
Here are a couple of pointers:
- Don't have an attitude and get irritated that someone had the audacity to ask you something you don't know. They may not have known you didn't know.
- If you have a suggestion on who might be able to help - share it.
- Don't tell a tall tale just to get the person off your back - it's OK if you don't know and you shouldn't send them down the wrong path trying to make yourself look good.
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