Probably doesn’t answer your question completely, but I’m a big fan of the phrase "my understanding is . . . " In other words, this is what I “know” as fact, but I’m aware that my knowledge could be wrong or insufficient and I’m willing to be corrected or updated. I use this phrase almost any time I’m asserting something as fact, as a kind of cya.
Was among a group of temps at a credit union. Employees were so busy, we got very little training. And spent large parts of our day with nothing to occupy our time.
After a month, supervisor walks by at end of day and asks how things are going. I say something to the effect of “could be better.” He looks surprised and says “OK, let’s discuss that tomorrow morning.” I think great, we can problem solve.
The next day turned out to be the three year anniversary of my boyfriend’s death. When I sat with supervisor and trainer and they said how are you, I let them know that I was a little emotional due to it, and started to cry a little.
Supervisor proceeded to reem me out for saying something so negative yesterday in the hearing of coworker and accused me of making a bunch of mistakes (I didn’t and had already provided evidence that I wasn’t involved) and that I obviously didn’t care about my work and that I needed to pack my things and be escorted out of the building.
In conclusion, I hope that guy spends the rest of his life with wet socks.