Why should Pilar have avoided saying, "This is not a comment on your work at all"?

Multiple Choice

A. She is stating the obvious.

B. Miguel is not listening to her anyway.

C. The client did not say this was a comment on Miguel's work, so Pilar should not say so either.

D. Miguel's reaction indicates his filter caused him to hear the opposite-that her decision is a comment on his work.

E. Miguel is the only designer she has ever said this to, so Pilar needs to be careful not to single out Miguel.

The answer is A

Explanation:

Pilar is stating the obvious when she makes the remark since we presume two things: In first place, if she were not commenting on his/her work she would have made that remark at the beginning, which makes this statement redundant. In second place, if she were giving suggestions about how to improve the person's work, she might be trying to be polite to the client.

Pilar should have avoided saying the phrase because she either being redundant, the first scenario, or saying something inaccurate in order to b polite, as in the second scenario. As a general rule, stating something implicitly negative and even vague at the end of a comment usually confuses the recipient of the message, who has to imagine the possible meaning of that statement.