This morning when I got to work I had a nasty voicemail on my phone from a notoriously bitchy woman that we work with, yelling at me for something which I have no control over, color selections. This before I got to take my first sip of coffee.

At first I got very cross and annoyed, and wasn't very friendly to the people around me. After a few minutes though I stopped and thought I know that the situation is not my fault and since this woman has a reputation of just being nasty, then she is probably a very unhappy person. In fact I actually felt a little sorry for her that her life must not be very happy so she takes it out on other people.

After starting to think of it in that way I was able to make a very polite phone call and calmy gave her the information I needed to without getting defensive. Just because someone is rude to me doesn't mean I need to be rude back.

My immediate reaction was still to get mad and want to give her a piece of my mind, which I will have to continue to work on, but at least I was able to eventually calm myself down. Baby steps I suppose.