"Conflicts are part and parcel of quotidian working life."

You would think that we would have gotten used to them by now, but every time something happens, it still shakes up the entire office.

Just this morning, Clerk A exploded at Clerk B and C, who were joking with her. Perhaps she was sensitive about the topic they were chatting about (taking leave) or maybe she was just in the wrong frame of mind. It escalated into a shouting match (albeit one-sided) where Clerk A ranted on and on at Clerk B, who chose to walk away and stood outside our cubicles, tearing. We heard the commotion even from the other end of the department. Boss had to mediate. An hour on, we are still shaken.

In my previous job, a manual worker held my colleague hostage with a pair of scissors. My colleague had been tasked to speak to him about his work performance, so they went into the boss' empty room. Not sure what transpired, but the worker ended up grabbing his weapon from the pencil holder and holding it to my colleague's throat. Now, that colleague a nice, calm person, so I don't think he provoked the worker in any way. Thankfully the other guys managed to overpower the worker and disarm him. He was fired on the spot.

I heard that he was sent to IMH (Institute of Mental Health i.e. the previous incarnation of Woodbridge) for treatment. A few months ago I spotted him at a foodcourt near my home. It gave me jitters, although I knew I shouldn't jump to conclusions above his mental state.

Why do people snap? The colleagues in my above experiences are all usually nice people, who can chat and laugh along with you. What forces them over the brink and behave out of character?

Is it the burden of work? It so happens that one is a clerk and the other is a manual worker. Does it happen more to the lower-educated because they are looked down upon and most often belong to the lower economic group as well, so life is more stressful for them? After tolerating for decades, something's gotta give.

Or is it because the work environment forces us to behave like people we are not? Everyone puts up a happy pretence so they can blend and 'fit in' with the rest and fulfil the 'core values' of the organisation = better appraisals and bonus. So when you suppress til you can't pretend anymore, the real personality surfaces.

It scares me that working life can turn ordinary people into such monsters.

Labels: Concrete Jungle