British people calibrate how they express concerns—and they notice when others don’t. Minor issues get mild language: “I’m not sure this is quite what I expected.” Bigger problems get clearer statements: “This really isn’t acceptable.” Save the aggressive complaints for genuine crises. Getting this calibration wrong marks you as either ineffective (too mild about serious problems) or unreasonable (too aggressive about minor ones). British indirectness isn’t weakness—when someone says “I wonder if there’s a problem,” everyone knows there’s a problem.
The indirectness signals you’re reasonable, you’re giving benefit of the doubt, and you expect this can be resolved sensibly. Learn to read these signals and use them yourself.
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