I Don't Trust Anybody—Including You!

Just as people project their bad experiences with others onto you, they may also project onto you issues of trust or lack of trust. They may have had trusts broken in their childhood, business life, or personal life. And it takes very little to trigger such people's mistrust—cues from your facial or body movement, or from your voice or what you say. They conclude, rightly or wrongly, and consciously or unconsciously, that you are not forthright, and so they react toward you with verbal abuse. In essence, they are coming across on the offense to subconsciously protect themselves against you.