Life may have made me overly sensitive, but I have a fantastic therapist and work intensively on managing my emotions. I’m known for being very friendly, polite and fair — so maybe these guys are taking me for an idiot?

I told one, whom I knew pretty well, “You are mansplaining, and it’s annoying.” He cried and we couldn’t work together anymore. I want to nip this in the bud as early as possible so we can get down to business. Got anything for me?

Gentle Reader: Yes: sympathy. But only with the caveat that, as irritating as these young men may be, you still have to be polite to them. Telling someone that they are annoying or making generalizations about their demographic is neither friendly, polite nor fair — traits for which you claim to be known.

“Yes, I believe I just said that” is a way to show displeasure at “mansplaining.” Or a reminder that self-promotion, unless it is on behalf of (credited) shared victories is unseemly: “I believe that Marla was also involved on that project,” or “Oh, that was your golf score? I’m sorry, but I thought you were talking about business matters. Let us stick to that while we are at work.”

The business world is having a moment right now wherein it is addressing the historically dominant voices that have previously prevailed. Miss Manners hopes that your office will take advantage of the restructuring. If not, perhaps you can suggest it.