A friend of mine told me she ran out the door the other day and forgot to put her wedding ring on.  A man that she encountered during her workday started hitting on her, and she was at a loss of what to do. If you are male or female, available to date or not, you are probably going to encounter someone making advances on you when you are not interested.  If you do not want to hurt his feelings and/or sound rude, what do you say?

Try to let him or her know you are not interested before he even has a chance to ask you out. If you are at a party, it is easy to excuse yourself to “find your date,” “find your friends,” or “get another drink.”  That should give you an out to move on from the person, and then steer clear of him or her for the rest of the evening. 

If you are in a business setting, try to move the conversation to work related issues.  If he or she makes it social again, feel free to give responses that include you and your significant other, and how happy you are about the relationship.  You can say, “My husband (or boyfriend) and I are going to the movies later.  He is great because he lets me pick the movie every time.” If you are single and not interested then work into the conversation how happy you are not to be dating anyone.  

If none of this works, and he or she asks you out anyway, there are some responses that will let him down in a way that is not too uncomfortable for both of you.  “Sounds fun, but my husband and I are really busy the next few weeks.”  If you are single you can say, “You are so nice to ask, but I am on social overload right now.  If that changes I will let you know.”  Give these responses with a smile, and try to quickly change the subject or walk away if possible.  This should stop it from going any further, and hopefully will not make it too awkward for either one of you.