Warn someone what the phrase actually means
'We should do this again sometime' means different things in different places, and getting it wrong is painful.
The BeingKind editorsPublished How this is written
Why it lands
Social scripts do not translate. In some cultures a vague suggestion is a real invitation and in others it is a polite ending; assuming the wrong one produces either an awkward follow-up or a missed friendship. Newcomers get this wrong for years and attribute the resulting failures to themselves. A single explanation of what a phrase actually signals saves a great deal of that.
How
Name the specific convention: “When people here say we must get lunch, it usually means nothing unless they suggest a date.” Then be the exception and suggest an actual date.
This is part of
A written list of what else helps in the same situation.
Related
Tell someone what you actually earn
Pay secrecy is maintained by people like you staying quiet, and it costs the people with least information the most.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Leave a note for your mail carrier
The person who walks to your door most days almost never hears from the people who live behind it.
5 minutesFreeA stranger2 people did this
Ask what the hardest part actually is
We assume we know which part of someone's situation is worst, and we are usually wrong.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Tell a carer what you noticed
Carers watch someone decline daily and lose sight of who they were. An outsider's observation gives that back.
5 minutesFreeA caregiver
Add alt text to your images
An image without a description is a blank space to anyone using a screen reader. Writing one takes twenty seconds.
5 minutesFreeA stranger