Frankly, I think it’s human nature. I’m talking about what power does to
people. Specifically, how you can
put a person in a position where they have control over another person’s
well-being and what kind of behavior that manifests in them. What is it about being outside of the rules or above the rules or the one that makes the rules, that turns many individuals into lords
and masters; that creates a self-righteous thought process? You know what I’m talking about, ‘They
behave like children! I have to
watch them like a hawk’ and the like.
Now I know a bunch of you are going to tell me ‘not in my workplace’ and ‘I would never’. Really? You have to invite me over to visit you at the Shangri la
Veterinary Hospital because I can't be the only one that's heard all these stories. Stories like:
- Veterinarian
THREW a book at another veterinarian during an adverse patient event
- Veterinarian
tongue lashed a technician DURING surgery while technician cried.
- Manager,
furious over an email, called coworker into room and gave her ‘both
barrels’
- Veterinarian
stormed into meeting and tongue whipped his manager in front of other
hospital leaders over a misstep with laboratory samples
- Veterinarian
called client care rep stupid in front of three people waiting in the
lobby
- Manager
went after client care worker who left post one-too-many times reducing
her to tears in front of her peers
- Practice
owner made fun of manager’s grammar in front of entire staff during
employee meeting.
I read this list and physically cringe…not because of what
it says about these leaders, but because I know this nature exists in me (though I'm not a thrower...nor am I a slammer...I'm just a yeller) And on many levels I believe its
human. I’m not excusing it, but in all fairness to myself and to the many others out there guilty
of this behavior, there must be some natural and understandable processes of
thought that take us from ignition to blast off.
And here's another question I had. Do you believe that there is more of this kind of behavior in the veterinary profession than in others? It certainly seems like it to me. Maybe it's my lack of experience, but I used to work for a trade school and after that a corporate bank and we never had people that were 'bawled out' or made to cry. You're probably thinking, 'yeah, cause you weren't one of the managers!'
Anyway, I thought I would gather your thoughts on anger
in the workplace, your experiences, and see if I couldn’t create some kind of
follow up to this rant.
Would you mind following this link and taking a 1 minute (swear to God)
survey on your experience with Anger in the Veterinary Workplace? After a week or so of responses, I'll post them on here so you can see how everyone weighed in.