Staying polite with an angry customer isn’t weakness. It’s the most controlled person in the room doing their job.

Keeping your voice level while someone shouts is not giving in. It is a deliberate choice to stay the one person in the exchange who still has options, because whoever loses their temper has handed control to whoever provoked them. Composure under that kind of pressure is a technical skill with real difficulty. Mistaking it for weakness costs you the skill.

When the next hard interaction comes, slow your reply by one breath and keep your sentences short and factual. Afterwards, tell someone you trust how it went, since carrying it alone is the part that wears you down.