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amounts to the idea of good communication. The first part of communication is simply to listen interactively. If you are dealing with the rude person face-to-face, simply maintain calm eye contact, with a neutral face. As hard as it may be, do not let your facial expression give away any thought or feeling other than "I'm paying attention". A few subtle nods when (and if) they pause will do the trick.

After you have listened to what the person has to say, it goes a long way with folks if you apologize. True, the situation may not be your fault, and there may be nothing you can do about it at that moment, but simply apologizing will help. Of course, you have to have something to apologize for, so something to the effect of "I'm sorry you're upset" or "I'm sorry this happened to you" (put in your own words, of course) will work just fine.

After you've listened to the person and apologized for the situation, do something about it. If you are wrong and the person is rude in correcting you, tell them you are sorry you made a mistake and will do what you can to correct yourself (if action is required). Admitting you made a mistake is easier than fighting when you know you are wrong. If the situation is "out of your hands" and you personally can't do anything about it, explain that to them. The more information a person has about something, the more comfortable they are with it. Tell them exactly what action you'll take, do it right there if you can, and then (here's the kicker) thank them.

Yes, you read that correctly: thank the rude person for bringing it to your attention. Often, rude people will be surprised that you thanked them, and (at the very least) will quit being rude. Sometimes, if you start the conversation by empathizing with them, their rudeness will subside very quickly. Generally, however, the idea is to get that person out of your way as quickly as possible. This is especially true if it is a customer at a business. Yes, it hurts business if every customer is rude and leaves in a huff, but if you treat clientele with respect, chances are that rude people will be rarer, and losing a few won't be that detrimental. It requires the employee to be somewhat of a pushover (from some points of view), but it is the quickest way to remove that rude customer from the business and still (hopefully) keep the customer for future, more pleasant encounters.

If the person in question is being rude in a more passive manner (i.e., talking loudly

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