I learned a very important, in my opinion, way to act during an “argument”...just because someone says something mean or derogatory to you, it does not mean you have to respond to it, I have a close friend who was called a witch only with a “b” and my friend responded by laughing out loud and walking away, further infuriating the name caller. It was perfect! Another way to handle criticism or accusations (in my case, usually a frustrated patient) was to completely agree with them; if they said I did something wrong, I’d simply apologize and ask what could I do to fix it; if they wanted copies of their records and I wasn’t able to do it right away, I again would apologize and suggest a suitable & fair time for them to come back to pick them up. Always took the air right out of them. How do you stay angry at someone who apologizes, takes the blame and wants to make it right?