A growing body of research on the role played by affect within interpersonal interaction has shown it to be a critical element in communication choices. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the specific impact of moods in this context, and as of yet no data have been published on the role of mood in shaping responses to a very common interaction event: goal interruption. This investigation relies on several theoretical frameworks to examine the impact that mood has on politeness, both in initial communication attempts and in following goal interruption. An experiment was conducted in which 99 participants attempted to persuade a confederate on a specific topic. Results show that positive-mood individuals begin persuasive attempts with less verbal politeness and less immediacy than their negative-mood counterparts. Furthermore, both positive and negative-mood individuals exhibited reductions in immediacy but increases in verbal politeness following partner interference. The findings are discussed and future directions are suggested.