{"id":2871,"date":"2017-12-19T13:53:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T13:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolinegourlay.wordpress.com\/?p=2871"},"modified":"2020-09-04T10:24:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T10:24:29","slug":"caution-emotion-at-work-3-anger-someone-elses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/caution-emotion-at-work-3-anger-someone-elses\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 3: Caution emotion at work \u2013 How to handle someone else’s anger at work"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the third in a series on emotion at work. Having looked last time at how to handle your own anger at work<\/a>, this month I’m focusing on dealing with someone else’s anger. Angry people can be intimidating, so it’s useful to have strategies for dealing with them, depending on where their anger is directed.<\/p>\n

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1. Rage against the machine<\/h2>\n

The photocopier has jammed for the umpteenth time just as your colleague is preparing copies of a really important document. Your colleague snaps. This is probably the easiest example of anger to deal with as you can probably just let them rant for a bit and perhaps intervene before they kick the machine. If they’re so prone to this kind of behaviour that various bits of office equipment have dents in them, then you might want to have a quiet word, when they’re in a calmer place, about how they manage their frustration and the impact they’re having on others – and on their own reputation.<\/p>\n

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2. Those $&**!! useless idiots<\/h2>\n

When someone’s raging about a supplier or another department, it’s got a little more heat to it than a rant about a photocopier\u00a0 – these are real people, after all – but there’s still a certain distance that keeps it relatively safe. How you respond may depend on your own views on the issue. Maybe you feel the other party is being unfairly maligned and want to defend them. On the other hand, you might be nursing your own grievance and be keen to join in. It’s worth thinking about what you want to achieve before you respond at all. Are you likely to fuel your colleague’s anger? If so, maybe now is not the moment to say much.<\/p>\n

A couple of useful questions\/conversation openers in this situation are:<\/p>\n