Do you have a colleague or manager at your office who you avoid? Just because whenever they are having a bad day or mood they turn dreadful. You check whether they are in the same room as you want to visit and completely escape if you find they are.
Perhaps it is not the best way to deal with their bad day. As much as it does not help that particular co-worker for his or her mood or day, similarly does not help your day or productivity. It is not effective to let their disposition affect your activities and emotions.
Here are the things to do or not to do when your coworker is in a bad temper.
Never ask if they are okay.
You do not become a person without emotions by doing so. As a caring human being anyone who notices someone in a bad mind frame or irritable condition, instinctively asks if things are alright or if they are okay.
However, step into their shoes. Consider yourself in a sullen mood. You are so irritable yourself that when everything seems to be going wrong, someone asking if things were okay completely ignites your aggravated frame of mind.
It is wise to resist the urge to ask it. If you do ask, it may make them feel distinguished from the others. So don’t. If they do feel like sharing on what’s up, they will.
Never Take It Personally
Realize this fact, when someone is trying to isolate you, insult you, shouts at you for no good reason and treats you in a further depreciative way, it is generally because something is wrong with them, and not you. There is a storm of emotions they are going through inside them.
Surely you just asked your coworker to just pass on those files and they snap at you out of nowhere. It is not your mistake. Even if there is a mistake you made they cannot just yell at you. So there is no established reason for you to take anything personally.
And so remember to never snap back or engage in an argument with them. Take a deep breath and let go.
Stay Away
Just keep your distance from them. Give them space for them to work things through themselves. You do not have the core responsibility to cheer them up or try to understand their problem.
If it has been like this for long, try sending them a mail about it. It is easier to drain their emotions through writing something up than personally sharing it face-to-face.
If this is a perpetual scenario in your workplace, it may be time for you to involve a third person. That is if you fail to make the coworker understand that they need to get a hold of them self.
