Have you ever walked out of a meeting?
This seems to be my modus operandi these days. Twice in one week I have gotten up and walked out of meetings. The first time was when a colleague was telling a lie and I knew it was a lie. It was about someone I care about. I had been given the back story, so I knew this person was lying. If I hadn't left, I would have been even more unprofessional. I think standing up and shouting, "You Lie!" a la "Princess Bride" Miracle Max and wife would not be appropriate behavior, do you? It might feel good, but it would cause a stink. Walking out was the best plan.
The other walk out was yesterday from a training meeting. I was two minutes late because the meeting was scheduled right up against the last class period. Students wanted to talk with me and, so, I hung around a did that. They are more important. When I arrived, I was not brought up to speed on the web site we were working from. I asked twice for the address and twice was blown off with a partial address. It didn't work. After the second try, I was told, "Well, move! No one else is having trouble." Read: You are so stupid maybe if you try again on another computer you might get it. Nevermind. I just gathered my goodies, got up, and left without saying a word. Done. Thanks.
As a Quaker, I truly try to avoid confrontations that can get ugly. This means I walk off, but it also means I stew. I think of all the things I could have said, but didn't. I fuss. I clean. I stomp. I say words that my Mother would box my ears over and then make me write 1000 times "I must not say ...." as she did when I was a child. (Never mind that I learned to swear from her!) In short, the anger stays until I wear it out with wrestling.
How do you handle situations where you know you might lose your cool at work??
When I worked for the city a few years back, I had to sit in my supes office while a parent griped about another child and how he shouldn't be there(I taught preschool for a city program). When she was finished, my supe thanked her and we said goodbye to her. I sat back down and looked at my supe, who was trying really hard not to laugh at the absudity of it all (the womans child had just graduated from preschool and wasnt going to be in the class anymore anyway!) and she looked at me and said, "I have never heard you NOT say a word!". I told her that when I DO get mad, it's best I dont tell you what a jack#^$ you are because it will only escalate from there, I WOULD have the last word (it's the Italian in me!) and that wouldn't be very Christ-like now, would it? She sorta looked at me in surprise and I said that no amount of talking would change that woman's (or anyone like her) opinion and why should I get myself all bothered up for someone like that? What goes around comes around and I tried my best to know that at some point in life, it would come back to her.
ReplyDeleteAll that to say, I handle things like that with my mama's motto, "what goes around comes around"...I would have walked out like you did and then if I got called on it, explained myself. But a lie is a lie and being called basically, "stupid" just wouldn't cut it. I was also not counting a that job for a livelyhood, it just went to pay off Bear's braces and give us some fun money, ect. Would I have done the same if it had been neccesary for me to work? Yes, and I would have done it just as prayerfully either way.