Handling Coworkers' Bad Moods
Going to work, I notice a lot of people sharing. We share a laugh, share lunches, and share good news. These are wonderful ways of sharing. The downside of a share-friendly environment is the sharing of bad moods.
I used to work with a girl that I'll call Britney. Britney could be a great person to work with, or she could be hands down the worst. It really depended on what mood she was in.
She never stayed with the mood she came in with either. Her moods shifted faster than the National Debt. People were soon doing their best to become amateur meteorologists. We'd pass each other in the hall and give mini status reports, "Britney is mild now with a 50% chance of shifting mean-ward in the next hour."
People knew Britney better than they knew their spouses. They had too. A run-in with her could ruin your whole week.
Now Britney had no intention of being mean, she just went where her moods took her. She could be really nice if that's the mood she was in. She'd give you the shirt off of her back in that case. It was just all of the other times that you wished you could've picked another night to work.
The moral of the story is don't be a Britney. We're all people; we have ups and downs. We have good days and bad days. It's just not fair to let your co-workers have to do their best to figure out if your barometric pressure is falling or smashing through the roof.
We should realize that co-workers spend a lot of time with us, almost as much as our families. We should treat them nicely and get the same in return. It's really a win-win situation.
If you already work with a Britney, take heart. I did and lived to tell about it. I just tried my hardest to be nice to her, no matter which mood she was in. It made things a lot more pleasant than trying to dodge her constantly and I'm sure made her feel better too.
Let's start the era of better co-worker relations!