Admittedly I'm ripping this off from a Nick Sparks presentation, but I like the idea of, instead of locking horns (unless absolutely necessary), be encouraging and something of a "cheerleader" for them. "Oh really, you used to work at the Waldorf? That's fuckin' awesome. Oh and tell me more about what Brazil was like, I'd kill to vacation there someday."

It's walking a fine line between letting them steamroll over you (when it comes to opinions, I believe in holding the line come hell or high water). But otherwise, if someone's trying to AMOG you, the above method can simultaneously kinda take the wind out of their sails (especially if you do catch them bullshitting with the socratic method is great for), not look even remotely butthurt to outside observers, and you might even just make a friend.

As a personal example, I worked with a waiter that would just not. shut. up. about his MMA obsession and skillz (and everyone else in turn would just endlessly bitch about 'fucking Todd and his stupid MMA'). I started asking him for pointers on where to go, what varieties of martial arts are best for what situations, what schools in town are best, etc. out of legit curiosity, and ended up actually getting a ton of great advice and even a personal referral to one of the local bigshot BJJ trainers.

Another example, at that same job, I was working side by side with a line cook (in his mid forties) who was just cocky as fuck despite not being very good, obviously threatened by us younger guys with skills, endlessly bragging about how awesome he is, how he's worked here and there and used to make shit tons of money and bangs 22 year old hot bitches every night and just...everything. Again, I went Louis Theroux on his ass and just started asking him about all of his experiences, practical advice he's picked up along the way, where he's been and what he's done and man, he just...sunk. Wind, sails, gone. The more he talked, the more he dug his grave. From there he more or less stopped trying to AMOG me.

And FWIW, he straight up told me I'm on his short list of people to call up when he, "opens his own place and blows everyone out of the water and makes millions and and and [insert list of brags here]". So whether or not he was bullshitting, it's still win-win for me.