Etiquette - I am selling my house and will be receiving a…

My dear sir, to be sure, trying to put lipstick on a pig is a futile endeavor.  It annoys the pig and wastes the lipstick.  That is the equivalent of looking for a "diplomatic response" (lipstick)  to boorish individuals who are pedestrian enough to ask for money (the pig).

One of my favorite and many year instructors in the fine art of being polite, kind and genteel without compromising my own values - when someone asked something/anything inappropriate, her question right back, with a smile and a head tilt as if she really wanted to know, "Why would you ask that?"

It forces the uncouth individual who would ask such a thing to explain themselves; run them right out of breath, listen intently and when they're done, ask again, "Why would you ask me to give you my money?"

And if they continue there is one last response -   "I'm sorry, no"

If they pursue it, you smile and remind them, "No is a complete sentence" and change the subject.

I understand how you want to maintain your own dignity, but it's wasted on someone who has none of their own.   The more they have to explain themselves per just those two initial responses, the more they hear themselves and if there's a shred of self respect within them, they'll hear themselves 'begging' or sounding 'entitled'

Usually they run out of gas, steam, chutzpah, whatever it is that fuels them after your second, Why would you ask me to give you my money?"

You can also, right from the start, just say "I'm sorry, no" -- and when pressed, "No is a complete sentence"

But I'm telling you, that first, "Why would you ask me that?"  always ended the inappropriate questions when my mentor, God rest her, asked it with that 'look'