Linux Administration Cookbook

Learn from my mistakes

In terms of handling irate people, I'm a good authority, because as many of my former colleagues will attest, I usually was that irate person.

It took me a good few years to realize that getting angry at a situation or people didn't make the situation any better, or my workplace nicer; it only made my mood worse. Thankfully, I've learned from my mistakes, and I take a very different approach to problems these days, not just flipping immediately to complain-and-blame mode (though I would always endeavour to fix the problem) and instead taking a step back from the situation first, assessing it, and then diving in with a nice cup of tea.

Being zen in a crisis is hard; I'm not going to claim otherwise, but the more people ...