Terrible Tact

So I have a confession: I have terrible tact. And it's been this way for as long as I can remember. When I was in elementary school, I once ate one of those individually wrapped Mrs. Fields cookies before dinner. Being an ignorant chubster, I threw the wrapper in the trash and neglected to even wipe the chocolate fully off my face. Obviously my mother approached me, and asked if I happened to eat a cookie before dinner. I said no. A boldface lie.

Momma picked up on it, and told me not to lie. As some may say, be good or be good at it. So I decided to be good. I just wouldn't lie anymore, because I was so bad at it.

It was after this realization that a girl that I did not like asked me if I hated her. Don't lie, right? So I said yes, I did in fact hate her. She proceeded to ask me why, so I named off a few reasons I hated her. Then I thought nothing more of it.

That was, until my mom got called because I told a girl I hated her, which apparently isn't socially acceptable. So my mom naturally asked me why I told a girl I hated her. And I just said, "You told me not to lie!" and still couldn't figure out why this was my fault. On top of me telling the truth, I can't help if someone lobbed it to me. Don't ask someone what they think of you unless you really want to know!

Okay, okay, so these days I understand where I went a little wrong; that there are nice ways to phrase things, and then there are rude ways to phrase things. But I still sometimes find it difficult to answer those tough, direct questions with any amount of tact.

Do you really want to ask me why we are disconnected? Because I'll give it to you straight, despite you probably not wanting the real answer to it. Nudge me a bit more and you'll get an ear full -- which isn't what anyone wants.