# Shouting Matches or worse at work: how common? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940 "2009-03-27T01:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940/41 "2009-03-29T02:42:23Z")
Kind of a tangent, but by coincidence, we had someone absolutely lose their shit at work yesterday and storm out. Her supervisor was out for a couple days, so another supervisor (whom she did not happen to like) was asking her if a list of tasks left for her had been accomplished, and she had an absolute meltdown, I mean shrieking and swearing loudly enough to get other people (including me) out of their offices. She informed us, at some volume, that she hates this fucking place and she invites us to all fuck ourselves, etc. The she picked up her two pictures of her son, her coat and purse, and marched out, screaming the whole way. The woman she was screaming at was completely floored. The woman had worked there almost two years, and in five minutes she kissed her reference goodbye. In my professional life, I’ve never seen anything like it. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940/42 "2009-03-29T02:49:49Z")
There is actually a book about this: [The No Asshole Rule](http://www.amazon.com/Asshole-Rule-Civilized-Workplace-Surviving/dp/0446526568/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238294806&sr=8-1) **From Publishers Weekly** “This meticulously researched book, which grew from a much buzzed-about article in the Harvard Business Review, puts into plain language an undeniable fact: the modern workplace is beset with assholes. Sutton (Weird Ideas that Work), a professor of management science at Stanford University, argues that assholes—those who deliberately make co-workers feel bad about themselves and who focus their aggression on the less powerful—poison the work environment, decrease productivity, induce qualified employees to quit and therefore are detrimental to businesses, regardless of their individual effectiveness. He also makes the solution plain: they have to go.” ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940/43 "2009-03-29T09:59:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The only time I’ve ever witnessed it was in fast food joints, watching some employees cream at others. Was that every day, or only on _bukkake_ Fridays? ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940/44 "2009-03-29T17:49:35Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > It’s a district office of a European-based, privately held firm with about 5000 employees worldwide. I was starting to wonder if it was an old boss of mine, but it was a small company of 10-15 people, and as he was the owner, there was no getting rid of him. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940/45 "2009-03-29T18:35:16Z")
**DanBlather** and **Voyager** : Forgive my confusing managers (probably thw word I wanted) with supervisors. (Not that it has much relevance to the topic at hand.) I agree either _ought_ to be held to higher standards of conduct, but if you’ve read enough of this type discussion, you’ll understand they aren’t. Insisting otherwise seems willfully to overlook the problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouting-matches-or-worse-at-work-how-common/490940.md?page=2)