Kerry Packer used to say “Never apologise, never explain” … or was it Sir Frank?
Anyway, I’m going to give you a magic phrase to use but you have to promise to use it wisely because it has almost magical powers. You say these words and only these words. You never explain or qualify them.
You siimply say: “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
Trust me – it stops people in their tracks. They may ask why or how or who says and all you do is shrug, as if this is an immutable law of the universe. Sigh, smile sympathetically, then walk away. If necessary, repeat them. But say nothing else. “It’s not possible …”
It will get you out of most situations. And, by the way, I’m deadly serious. I use it judiciously but it never lets me down.
By the way, it works particularly well with nutters as it seems to cut through their scrambled logic the way nothing else does.