That's an interesting question. I was raised in a family that made a lot of sarcastic comments, and I carried that habit into the workplace early in my management career.

I soon found that it didn't help when I had to deal with a problem. People would react emotionally rather than rationally. In time, I learned simply to note my concern about the problem to the people responsible and let them get the point.

If they didn't get the point, or if the problem was a repeat that shouldn't have happened, I would ask why it happened again. If it kept happening, I would start using different types of verbal warnings about how it has to stop. The problem usually didn't get that far.