wolfesbrain asked:
Read the post about consent problems. Curious about not quite opposite problem. Lack of opinion/preference being mistaken as consent problem e.g. “Where do you wanna go for lunch?” “I’m fine with wherever you want .” “Yeah, but, where do /you/ want?”
realsocialskills said:
Sometimes you can solve that problem by telling them explicitly that you want them to decide. Eg:
- “I’d like you to pick a place.”
- “I’m kind of tired of all the places I go, do you know of somewhere good?”
If you say it this way, it’s clearer that you’re actually *expressing* a preference (that they decide), and it looks less like you’re avoiding saying what you want in order to be polite.
Another possibility is to ask them for help narrowing it down, eg:
- “Can you give me some options?”
- “What are some places you like?”
Then, if you really don’t have a preference, you can pick one of their suggestions at random. And if you do have a preference, hearing a list can make it easier to make a choice.
These approaches don’t always work, but they do in a lot of situations.