Not everyone with professed intelligence knows what they are talking about so when told to follow their dictates and arguing is not an option, it is sometimes best to smile and wait for them to turn and walk away before continuing on your selected course of action.
I do not recall when I first learned to draw but by the time I was in the second grade, I remember being confident in that skill. Just before Christmas, our class was told to draw a winter scene and I had selected a picture of a little girl in a red winter coat with a green bonnet hat and matching muff. Our teacher directed the class to “Make a grid on your paper, except for Donald, because he knows how to draw.”
I happily raised my hand and told her that I knew how to draw. She replied, “You do not, Gerry. Put a grid on your paper.” Befuddled, I again told her that I could draw without a grid. Again I was told to use a grid.
She went back to her desk and seeing I could not win this argument, I found my own solution. I made my drawing on the paper and then put a grid over the top of it. Later when she told me what a nice work I had drawn because I used the grid, I just smiled.
I thought of that incident when I met know it alls later in life. They never knew what I was thinking when I smiled. “OOPS There goes another grid down!!”