On Politeness and Face

Out of all the Politeness Maxims, I've narrowed down to three that I most commonly encounter and/or use.

Tact Maxim - I use this when I'm delegating shitty tasks and when I'm running late. For instance, I knew I was going to be behind time for an appointment with my friend because I missed two consecutive buses to town. Our meeting place was supposed to be at the bus stop in front of Tangs. So I texted her, telling her that it was it was "not my day" because I was unlucky enough to miss both buses and told her, since the weather was so sweltering hot, to shop around inside of Tangs first instead of waiting outside. In that sense I was minimising her 'cost' of action by providing her with the 'benefit' of having time to shop around more, before I reached. Oh man. It sounds really sneaky when I phrase it that way.

Approbation Maxim - On most occasions I subscribe to the belief that, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all". So if my friends ask me whether or not they look good in a new haircut or outfit, I try to be encouraging even if I don't particularly fancy it. I find it's useful to be vague with my answers and say something like "It's not my taste/style, but..". Indirect comments might also be, "It's okay only la" or "Not bad lor". I guess then it qualifies as half-truths?

Agreement Maxim - When I disagree with an opinion, I'll attempt to work out a middle-ground though I'm careful not to go overboard to the extent of sounding hypocritical. There was once I dragged my friends to see a random arthouse film, they ended up getting frustrated about not understanding the film's concept/storyline and hence not making their money's worth. And I, being grateful that they were already accompanying me, tried to appease them by picking out sections of the film that I thought were less engaging, even though I did eventually get to the point that "on the whole I found it was rather watchable".