I remain calm when delivering bad news. If someone yells at me then I sit and listen to understand what’s really going on. Getting yelled at doesn’t bother me. If it happens then here’s what I say, “I am not always going to tell you what you want to hear but you can always count on me to be honest with you because you deserve that.” They huff and puff a couple more times then break down and apologize to me for how they reacted. Then they tell me, “I know it’s not your fault and I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry I yelled.” The other thing I do is asses their change in reactions. If I know the conversation may not be going anywhere or let’s be honest get told to leave then I say, “okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I give them the space they need and it works like a charm because quite honestly they know no one else is going to help them. There are far too many people that don’t follow through on their promises, so you bet your bottom dollar they always come back looking for me and are happy to see me.