A simple reassurance can keep a small accident from becoming the center of someone’s day.

A spill or a broken glass carries far more embarrassment than damage, especially for someone already worried about being a nuisance. The few seconds afterward decide how big the event becomes. A light word and it stays what it was. A silence, or a sigh, and it becomes the thing they remember about the evening.

When something goes over near you, say it is nothing and mean it, then help clear it without ceremony. Change the subject afterward rather than reassuring them twice.