Ask Steph: I lost my temper at work.
I think I overreacted at work, and I’m so embarrassed that I haven’t wanted to go into the office. We’re hybrid and I’m supposed to be in the office twice a week. I just don’t want to see the look on my teammates’ faces.
I was having a really hard time in my personal life (ended a long-term relationship, overwhelmed at having to find a new apartment, and then my cat died suddenly). I was already having a very tough day when a co-worker told me a presentation would need to be ready in two days, a week earlier than I was originally told. I broke down, started crying, and yelled at him about how unfair it was to not tell me sooner and how it was an unreasonable expectation to put on me. I stormed out, and I went home. There’s no way the rest of my team didn’t overhear what happened. I’ve been working remotely since then so I don’t run into that teammate at the office. I finished the presentation and sent it to my co-worker without saying anything else.
My manager hasn’t said anything to me, so I’m guessing my co-worker hasn’t said anything to him and he doesn’t care that I missed an in-office day. I don’t think I’m in trouble, but I’m mortified to go talk to this co-worker again. With the benefit of hindsight I realize that he was telling me as soon as he knew. There are a dozen better ways I could have handled it, and I’m kicking myself for not holding it together better. I don’t want to be known as the crying woman in the office or on the team, and I can’t believe I couldn’t hold it together. What do I do?
