I spoke to the visiting counsellor that comes around twice a week to see patients here. She taught me something..

People are either TOO NICE - in which case they tell lies in order to accomodate the other person. Sooner or later, they snap in which case they become NASTY. They snap under the pressure that they place upon themselves and are consequently angry and frustrated, and lash out on the other person.

Somewhere in the middle, people have to learn to tell the TRUTH KINDLY.
So as not to place yourself in a position where you snap once things get unbearable.

For example,
Saying to the boss, yes i can do the extra work everytime when asked, and then getting really jaded and angry at the boss.
Instead, reaching a medium and saying i can't do both this task and this other task.. which would you want me to do more urgently so i can get that done first?

I don't know that that makes any sense in terms of my explaination.. but i really thought that this explained a lot about human nature and our assumptions.