Friday, August 9, 2013

Dealing with A-holes

Your day is going great. You are relaxed and rested from a good night sleep. Your wife and kids were actually in a good mood and said that they will miss you while you are at work. You avoided the traffic and they played a set of your favorite U2 songs on the radio. In fact, someone brought in Krispy Kreme doughnuts into work. You have no meetings and you are caught up with work. Life is good. Then you get that e-mail. That e-mail that sets you off. Your whole day is now shot. It is known as the a-mail, an e-mail from an asshole at work. I apologize for the language; however, we have all been there. They make some derogatory comment about your work and the cc the entire world so everyone can see that comment. It might be that such an a-mail was unintentional, yet the stench of it lingers. So what do you do?

You start to doubt your abilities. You realize that you were on a diet and eating that Krispy Kreme doughnut just destroyed your PX93 workout. At this point, the rose colored glasses you are wearing have become a shade of grey.

This has happened to me several times and I can't say I have successfully dealt with this situations; however, perhaps my failure is your benefit. I did let these type of e-mails ruin my entire day. I should have brushed it off; however, that is easier said than done. Perhaps, I should have responded with an e-mail back establishing my asshole stature. No. What I should have done is take some deep breaths and calm myself. Then I should have focused on the positive aspects of myself. I should have viewed this person with empathy because in order for them to feel good about themselves, they have to ridicule another. I should have considered their perspective that would cause them to write such an e-mail. I should have seen if there was any constructive criticism that I could benefitted. I should have done that, but did not. Perhaps, next time I will handle it better.

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