A Little Hot Today

It’s been said that the harder a man strives to stand on principle the more he is bound to face personal attack. In my line of work, public administration, this has certainly been true as attacks can come literally from out of the blue. A longtime colleague can take you on with a laundry list of complaints after years without a word. The next day, an attack might come from a person whose child received a parking ticket. Neither may be a real attack but perception is reality and when someone disagrees with us, we can’t help but to get worked up. The key is in choosing the appropriate response for each workplace moment of inevitable stress.