Right speech in social situations My boss has a tendency to gossip and speak negatively about his clients when they are not present. Sometimes he speaks to me about these people, and I am unsure of how to respond with regard to right speech. To not respond at all may hurt his feelings and create friction in our workplace. But to engage in such a discussion about others surely is wrong speech. How should one go about responding to gossip while maintaining right speech and prevent hurt feelings/social awkwardness?
There are a few tactics which I have employed in the workplace when dealing with people such as this. They don't ALWAYS work, but with some practice they can definitely help.

1) You can try to push the conversation off tangentially to a different subject.

"Such and such customer did this when we were talking about the smith account."

"Oh right, about the smith account, I was meaning to ask you.."

2) Little to no feedback

Pretty much just what it sounds like. Just be mindful of the persons rant as nothing but noise, only giving enough mindfulness to the actual content as to be able to interact when absolutely necessary.

This sometimes works when the person either takes the hint that you aren't interested, or they become bored that their need to gossip isn't being fulfilled by you.