Anything that starts with "Thing is" or a similar type of sentence ("In reality", "Here's the deal", "With all due respect", etc.) is condescension. There's no

Anything that starts with "Thing is" or a similar type of sentence ("In reality", "Here's the deal", "With all due respect", etc.) is condescension. There's no other way to take it. Especially when it's followed up by a "you don't get to make that decision". And any time you start off by being patronizing you aren't actually trying to advance your argument or teach somebody but rather trying to belittle the other person.