I just heard a story about two colleagues on a Zoom call. One pissed the other off immensely by rolling his eyes repeatedly at the screen while the other spoke. The receiver of the eye rolls spent the next week roiled in anger, frustration, and a touch of self-loathing for not having called him out in the moment. She plotted endlessly on the best way to bring it up.

She wanted to be kind but not weak, assertive but not nasty. She wanted him to know that he couldn’t get away with such juvenile nonsense, at least not with her. She repeatedly played the conversation in her head, trying to get it right.

Whenever she thought she had it, she recanted, feeling like she could not call him out without making herself look petty. She tried to let it go. After all, it was only a few eye rolls, right? But it ate at her. She lost sleep over it until she finally resolved to tell him how disrespectful he was toward her during the meeting.

He was mortified.

He felt horrible that she felt disrespected and went on to explain. His clock was on the wall above his screen. He was trying to take quick, furtive glances at it so she wouldn’t feel that he was disinterested or disrespectful by diverting his attention away from her.

He had to pick up his daughter at school and didn’t want to be late.

Own Your Sales Gene…