‘Desk rage’ warns of violence - Marine Corps News, pay, benefits, careers, entertainment, photos - Marine Corps Times HOME

‘Desk rage’ warns of violence

Workbytes’ new friend, columnist Anita Bruzzese, calls it “desk rage.”

It’s when a cubicle-confined employee gets so frustrated, so stressed, that he or she (usually he) lets fly a few expletives aimed at a customer, colleague, boss or potted plant.

He might even hang up the telephone with enough force to void the warranty. He might vigorously tap his mouse, as if sending Morse code across the Atlantic. He might glare. He might snarl. He might slam down his coffee mug and slosh java everywhere.

“I think it’s happening more and more, because the workplace has become a pressure cooker,” Bruzzese says.

She should know. She’s a nationally syndicated scribe whose columns on workplace issues make ours seem rather sad and pathetic. She has written her weekly “On the Job” column for Gannett News Service for nearly 15 years.

Bottom line, Bruzzese says: Desk rage has become unacceptable.

It used to be OK if someone occasionally blew his stack at work. But such behavior now is defined as a sign of potential workplace violence. Companies know that an ill-timed hissy fit can trigger a complaint that grows into a pricey out-of-court settlement. So they’re cracking down.

“The rest of us are a lot more sensitive to these outbursts now,” Bruzzese says. “If you have an eruption at work, someone will go to human resources and you’re going to be written up for it. You’ll be labeled a ‘hothead,’ and that will follow you throughout your career.”

Her new book, “45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy,” devotes an entire chapter to desk rage.

- A survey by New York consulting firm Integra Realty Resources showed that almost half of 1,305 respondents said yelling and verbal abuse are common where they work.

- The American Management Association says 29 percent of workers admit that they have yelled at co-workers. Fourteen percent said they have seen an angry podmate damage machinery or equipment, such as a computer that freezes up if you even look at it too hard.

- A similar survey in the United Kingdom found that 28 percent of workers reported at least one “stand-up row” with a colleague.

Says Bruzzese: “You might think a burst of temper is nothing to be concerned about, but the boss sees uncontrolled emotion as a potential danger.”

Bruzzese recounted the story of a guy who punched the office Coke machine.

“We all sort of laughed it off, but I remember being concerned,” she said. “We now know, unfortunately, that anyone who becomes verbally or physically aggressive is someone to be concerned about.”

Workbytes recently blew the dust off a 2001 Stanford University study whose author, Larissa Tiedens, concluded that displays of anger can be perceived as “a sign of elevated position and status” in the workplace. Workbytes contacted Tiedens to see if her study remains relevant in this new, nervous era.

“I need to prepare for my teaching today, so I’m not going to be able to discuss this with you,” she said.

Her response left us a wee bit perturbed.

So we turned to former Iowa State University social psychology professor Brad Bushman, who agreed with the Stanford study when it was published.

Are the findings now moot?

“Sorry, I can’t remember it,” he said.

Workbytes was steamed.

We were about to smash the phone into bits when we recalled Bruzzese’s advice.

We closed our eyes, conjured pleasant thoughts, and took more deep breaths than Jacques Cousteau.

There was no other choice.

(Dawn Sagario and Larry Ballard of The Des Moines Register take turns writing the Workbytes column each week. Write the columnists at The Des Moines Register, P.O. Box 957, Des Moines, IA 50304-0957.)