Lydia, I have a chance to teach you something here. You have got to take the upper hand in all situations or people, whether they're dead or alive, will walk all over you.

Here the speaker lectures Lydia on assertiveness: seize control in every situation, or people will treat you like a doormat. The twist is the phrase 'whether they're dead or alive', which stretches the advice to ghosts too and makes it funnier.

Context reviewed 20 September 2026