You have a scissor-happy hairstylist and a housekeeper who spends more time watching soaps than using them. You know it's warped logic, but you would rather live with mullet hair and a moldy shower than voice displeasure, let alone fire the errant worker. "It doesn't mean we're all wimps; it just means that we don't like to hurt other people's feelings," says clinical psychologist Wayne Sotile, who practices in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "We hate to say no, and firing someone is blatantly saying no."

The thing is, some nannies and assistants deserve a blatant no — and nothing else. Here, from the mouths of firers, firees, and experts, are the easiest ways to say it, all customized to your firing style.