Antony Mayfield shares a great little technique we can all use to break up the social flow of a stressful situation, which gives us a chance to redirect that flow and sail toward a better outcome:
Basically the technique is this: when in a stressful situation, stop, throw your hands up in the air and shriek, “How fascinating! What can I learn from this?”
Sure, it may seem a bit strange but it definitely could be construed as within the normal range of behavior. I can see such an action being very helpful in lots of different situations. Go give his story a read, it’s fascinating, and we can learn something from it!