I have a strict policy that there is no political or religious topics during a professional service. For many many years I have held this high as a personal commitment and now have it written in my employee handbook. I feel that is a deeply personal topic and not something a service professional OR a client should be bringing forward. We are just there to solve a problem and that is all. If too many questions start coming up or I feel a conversation is going a certain way I will walk out every time. There are a million and one other topics we can have small talk about that don't involve something that could be extremely polarizing between people.
I have been backed into a wall BY NOT ANSWERING antagonizing questions. I just kept repeating that I don't discuss politics at work.
