You might say something like “Asking questions if you genuinely want to understand something better is great, but asking questions to try to frustrate or annoy me is not. I’m getting the sense that you’re doing the latter.”
Telling someone who tries to wage status conflicts with you that you want him to stop fighting for more status is pretty pointless.
I’m not sure “status conflict” is the only possibility here; for example, the terminal value might be something like autonomy, or feeling genuinely listened to.
Telling someone who tries to wage status conflicts with you that you want him to stop fighting for more status is pretty pointless.
I’m not sure “status conflict” is the only possibility here; for example, the terminal value might be something like autonomy, or feeling genuinely listened to.