Not TTCR: XP from ML - Losing your cool at work

[jewel]

The other day at work, I was talking with someone who was saying some really crazy things to me. At the time, I didn't think much about it and continued with the conversation as if it were totally normal. Later, a coworker asked how I keep my cool during moments like that. It got me thinking....I haven't always been so laid back.

I worked at the Gap when I was fresh out of high school. One day, we had a promotion for a free panty with coupon. As people came in to claim the free panties, we started to run out of a few varieties. For some reason, a coworker thought that the coupon was only good for one table of panties, and got frantic when that table was gone. She asked me what to do no less than 10 times within a couple of hours. I kept telling her that the coupon was good for any cotton panty, so the customer could just pick from another table. After repeating this nicely to her more than enough times, I finally yelled "ANY COTTON PANTY! What don't you understand about ANY cotton panty?" She didn't ask me again, but I guess she reported it to my boss. He called me into his office a few days later to talk about the incident. He ended up telling me that sometimes we just have to work with really dumb people who don't understand what "any cotton panty" means, but we still can't yell in front of customers. Lesson learned for everyone.

Have you ever lost your cool at work? Share some good stories here....

[G22]

When I worked at a clinic, I would bring patients back and get vitals, chief complaints, and go over medications. It was internal medicine so most of our patients were >60 and most had many meds.

One day a particularly nasty patient came on, and when I tried to over her meds she began to ream me because the previous nurse had not done things the way to pt wanted. As in this pt hadn't been in to the office for over a year but still wanted refills on her meds anyways. The doctor I worked for wouldn't refill unless he had seen you in the past 12 months.

I've never had anyone be so rude to me in my life. I finally said "I'll let the doctor go over them with you" and left. I had to get out of there because she sent me into a full panic attack. I was so worked up I broke out in hives and cried to my coworkers.

When I took the chart to the doctor, he saw how worked up I was and told the patient if she was going to treat his employees that way, she could find a new doctor. She stormed out and never came back. I was glad he had my back, and then I cried again because it made me feel appreciated.

For the record: I HATE crying in front of people. Even my H. So I was really embarrassed.