Work Dispute? Lose Your Cool, Lose Your Job

If you get in a workplace dispute, watch your emotions carefully.  If you lose your cool, you will likely lose your job.

People understandably feel strong emotions when confronted with strong emotions– say if a boss or HR rep is treating you condenscendingly, sarcastically, or worse, is yelling at you.  If these things happen, it is hard not to let emotions well up and take over.  But that is exactly what you have to prevent.

If management loses their cool, they keep their jobs.  You do not make the decision whether your managers keep their jobs, when they lost their cool in dealing with you.  But if you lose YOUR cool in dealing with them, then they can choose whether to label your actions “insubordination” or “misconduct”, etc.  They can choose to fire you.

These are simple concepts.  But the minute a worker gets into a dispute, he is quick to forget the logical concepts above, and likely to lose his cool.  Don’t lose your cool.  It will do you no good, and will likely cost you your job.