Conflict often arises because somebody is pissed off and nobody is listening. The first thing to do is listen and understand where they are coming from.

Tense situation is a karen yelling at one of my colleagues because her father’s operation was postponed because I kid you not 4 doctors called in sick today. Rumor has it they’re striking for better pay.

So, this “Karen” has a sick relative that she wants be helped, and nobody is helping. Sounds like she’s got a fair reason to be agitated. Now you may not be able to do anything personally about it, but ignoring her makes the situation worse. Listening and then explaining why you’re unable to help, maybe pointing her in the direction of somebody who has responsibility.

The first thing is to listen, then show a little fucking empathy.