I've always been a kind person by nature, self-aware, and empathetic. I've learned a lot in my life from my struggles to fit in, and it feels like I remember every misstep I've made... and I also remember the positives. Combine that with taking note on how others' words and actions have affected me- I usually have a pretty good idea of the reaction or outcome I'll receive before I speak or act. I prefer to be straightforward, honest, and solve problems without speaking in riddles and playing games. There's usually a way to go about this while taking the feelings of others into account, though it can be tiring in situations where there's a lot of corporate whackery and internal politics.
One example is when I was an Operations Engineer at a sprawling hotel/resort/convention center, and the management decided that they wanted to chase after some kind of Forbes accreditation that they could tout in their promotional material and advertisements next to their existing AAA Four Diamond rating that they wore like a badge of honor. Some of Forbes' requirements were things like 24 hour room service, as well as having a maintenance worker show up at a guest's room to make repairs within 10 minutes of the guest requesting service. The problem is that the company was also bent on cutting staffing to the bone to cut operating costs, and this made their goal 100% unachievable. Yet they hired this smarmy lady to give weekly pep talks and conduct mock service requests with a timer in her hand. They "solved" the 24 hour room service problem by having restaurant and room service staff hastily make up some sandwiches to throw in a refrigerator before they left for the night at 10-11pm; the lone bellman or night auditor had to hustle these plastic wrapped sammiches to guests who called for room service during the 7-8 hour period where room service was actually closed. On my end, I would be busy in the boiler room switching the liquid chillers that provided room cooling in the day to a more efficient night mode, firing up the boiler for room heating, monitoring electricity usage, blowing down the steam generator after the kitchen closed, trying to figure out why the fire sprinkler booster pumps kept coming online when there was no fire... and then I'd get a call for a burned out light bulb or an internet connectivity issue in a casita at the far edge of the property. The electric golf carts were slow, so I'd hop in my truck to get there quicker. Ms Smarmypants answers the door and shows me the 12 minutes and 33 seconds time it took me to respond, notes that I only addressed her by her name twice instead of the prescribed three times during our interaction. I'm not mean to her, at all, but I calmly explain to her that it is absolutely not possible to guarantee that I will be able to respond to these calls under all circumstances in less than 10 minutes. If that is your target, the only solution will be to increase staffing in my department, and that it will likely require one person to be staged in my other office at the opposite end of the property so that they can reliably respond to calls in that 10 minute window.
tl;dr - I have no problem with, and understand how to people kindly and respectfully, but I will become increasingly direct when I'm faced with issues that are being obscured with fakery or total bullcrap. If it continues, I can can be pretty curt with people. I would be a lousy politician
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