I have very often run into the exact same problem and used to use this exact same solution. I think most of this solution is great, but part of it has problems that may develop. I used to and still often do have the same problem as the OP, but it's less and less since I tweaked this solution a little bit. Btw, this is going to be long, but my comments/posts just are, so sorry in advance to anyone that may bother. Because of that, I made a separate comment independent of this reply area, but I wanted to say this is what inspired it and provides background on my comment. If you want to skip to my advice, please see my independent comment to the OP which will follow.
I used to have this kind of problem when I could not be able to try to get someone to see "my side" or the "correct/logical/sane, etc." side of a situation. My dad told me some people will never believe that they are wrong, no matter what you say or do, so the best thing to do to stop the arguing and unpleasantness is to just say, "You're right," since they couldn't keep arguing if you agree with them, and then you will be able to extract yourself from the unpleasantness and achieve your own personal peace and quiet, just allowing this person to ruminate in their own ignorance.
This kind of worked for a while, but there were three problems that developed over time: 1. The rage built up way too much and was not always controllable/I couldn't always say "you're right" in some situations as it would have had other unpleasant repercussions; 2. sometimes the person would not let the argument end right at that moment because they still had too much adrenalin pumping to defuse it so quickly, so they kept up the infuriating nonsense for an extended period of time (sometimes beyond the amount of time I calculated it would have taken to "convince" them of my POV)and I had to keep putting up with it for a while, pretty much negating the reward aspect of ending it quickly and not having to hear their POV and all the points in it that I was struggling not to argue with; 3.and most importantly, this worked to some extent with certain people who were not exactly close to me but with whom I had to interact, like the unpleasant harpy you dealt with at the dentist, because it was easier to not be as invested in their opinion or ridiculous behavior and be dismissive of them, using that tactic to control/limit any negative impact on me concerning our interaction, and easier to control/limit their impact on my life in general, but not so much with people I cared about or with whom I had relationships, because I was emotionally involved with them and, deep down, really wanted to have them understand me so we could put the conflict behind us.
So mostly due to the third reason, I started concentrating more on what you said to begin with, which is what I will explain in my independent post, which will shortly follow.
Conflict resolution any advice?
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I have very often run into the exact same problem and used to use this exact same solution. I think most of this solution is great, but part of it has problems that may develop. I used to and still often do have the same problem as the OP, but it's less and less since I tweaked this solution a little bit. Btw, this is going to be long, but my comments/posts just are, so sorry in advance to anyone that may bother. Because of that, I made a separate comment independent of this reply area, but I wanted to say this is what inspired it and provides background on my comment. If you want to skip to my advice, please see my independent comment to the OP which will follow.
I used to have this kind of problem when I could not be able to try to get someone to see "my side" or the "correct/logical/sane, etc." side of a situation. My dad told me some people will never believe that they are wrong, no matter what you say or do, so the best thing to do to stop the arguing and unpleasantness is to just say, "You're right," since they couldn't keep arguing if you agree with them, and then you will be able to extract yourself from the unpleasantness and achieve your own personal peace and quiet, just allowing this person to ruminate in their own ignorance.
This kind of worked for a while, but there were three problems that developed over time: 1. The rage built up way too much and was not always controllable/I couldn't always say "you're right" in some situations as it would have had other unpleasant repercussions; 2. sometimes the person would not let the argument end right at that moment because they still had too much adrenalin pumping to defuse it so quickly, so they kept up the infuriating nonsense for an extended period of time (sometimes beyond the amount of time I calculated it would have taken to "convince" them of my POV)and I had to keep putting up with it for a while, pretty much negating the reward aspect of ending it quickly and not having to hear their POV and all the points in it that I was struggling not to argue with; 3.and most importantly, this worked to some extent with certain people who were not exactly close to me but with whom I had to interact, like the unpleasant harpy you dealt with at the dentist, because it was easier to not be as invested in their opinion or ridiculous behavior and be dismissive of them, using that tactic to control/limit any negative impact on me concerning our interaction, and easier to control/limit their impact on my life in general, but not so much with people I cared about or with whom I had relationships, because I was emotionally involved with them and, deep down, really wanted to have them understand me so we could put the conflict behind us.
So mostly due to the third reason, I started concentrating more on what you said to begin with, which is what I will explain in my independent post, which will shortly follow.