Provoked

"Why can't you cook something nice today?" Sakshi yelled at her mom, irritated by seeing the same old veggies and dal on her plate. She screamed at her mom for being a health freak all the time, then fled from the dining room to her room. Sakshi's mom was bothered by her behavior. She was trying to figure out why her daughter behaved the way she did. Once she finishes all the chores, she goes to bed but is still upset.

The next day morning, Lalitha (Sakshi's mother) woke up early, prepared Sakshi's favorite food for breakfast and lunch. She was patiently waiting for the clock to tick 7 to go and wake up Sakshi. It is still quarter to 7, then the bell rings. Lalitha opens the door and the watchman gives her a newspaper and milk packets. She was about to close the door, but then stopped when he said Sakshi was crying in the garden since 4 a.m. As soon as Lalitha learned that, she panicked and told the watchman she would find out what was going on and asked him not to tell Sakshi's father. She immediately locked the door and went downstairs to Sakshi. Seeing her mom Sakshi was embarrassed and scared. Then, she asked her to come along up the stairs and acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. On the way, she told Sakshi that she made all her favorite food and asked her to get freshen up. Sakshi nodded her head and thought that her mother might not know that she was crying by the time her mother came to her in the garden. Therefore, Sakshi tried to cover up the situation and be normal in front of her mother. 

Sakshi went to her room to freshen up while Lalitha went into the kitchen to prepare tea. Soon Sakshi got ready and went into the balcony and sat on the swing. She was deeply immersed in thoughts that she didn't respond to her mother who is calling her name. Then Lalitha brought the breakfast and tea to Sakshi and asked her "what are you thinking about so deeply that you didn't respond to me?"

Seeing her mom Sakshi becomes normal and takes the plate from her mom's hand and started eating. She was quiet all the time she ate. Lalitha was observing Sakshi and thinks that Sakshi is hiding something from her. After finishing the breakfast Sakshi thanks her mom for making her favorite breakfast and apologizes for the last night. Then Lalitha comes closer to Sakshi and hugs her saying that I'm sorry for being so health-conscious at times. Sakshi holds her tightly, then Lalitha felt that something is wrong with Sakshi's behavior. She then tells Sakshi that "I know your mood is off and you were upset because of something. you can share that with me. If not anything at least you can have someone to hear you."

Listening to her mom's words Sakshi started crying and says her mom that she wanted to quit the job. Lalitha asks what happened and what is the reason behind this decision. Then Sakshi starts telling the incident which took place the previous day. She told that she had a very big fight with her colleague. She told me that as we had a hybrid model of work after the pandemic we had to work from home for 3 days and from the office for 2 days. The day before was a work from home day and on that day there were no requests in the first half of the day but in the latter half, there comes a request for reports to be sent. My colleague Sankar assigned me the work and I started working on it. As you know we had a short circuit and the power was not supplied for the rest of the day. I informed the other colleague Reddy that I'm not able to work as the power is not there.

To my bad luck charging was not there in my system so I can't inform through official sources of communication. I don't have the contact of Sankar on my phone so I informed Reddy and asked him to take my part of work too along with his part. As there is more work Sankar himself offered help to Reddy and got that work finished. The next day when I went to the office he started questioning me why didn't inform me that you were not able to do that work, he told me that just because he couldn't do that work I had to finish it off and I was burdened with the work. I was shocked to see that side of his behavior. I explained the situation and told him and told him that I will take responsibility and inform the team lead about the same. Suddenly, he began accusing me of making up the situation and escaping work. Hearing that, I got frustrated and yelled at him. I told him to watch his language. Then he asked me to stop and shouted at me why don't you take care and inform me earlier. I just asked him to stop and leave the office. For the rest of the day, I came home and was crying that how can he question me like that. I told her that I decided to leave this place and find a new job where I can get some better colleagues. 

On hearing the whole story my mom asked me "why did you react when you were provoked?" I said why will not I. She then explained to me that it wasn't your fault that the power was gone but it was your mistake to not inform him or the team about the same. She asked me to see things from his perspective. Your focus was constantly on your situation, but you missed what he was trying to say. He was agitated not because you hadn't done the work, but because you hadn't informed him.It isn't that I ask you to be calm for whatever he says but try to analyze the perspectives before responding. If you give up here and go to a new workplace, there is no guarantee that you will find sweet people there. In everyone's life, there will always be someone who provokes you, criticizes you, insults you.

Every time you get to experience any of them it isn't that you are wrong or you have made a mistake. It is that you have to be patient and wait for the right. I'm not telling you to plan an act of revenge or something but you need to be patient to be better than they expected you to be. Work more, learn more and do whatever it requires you to do if it is ethically right then you can see the results of your patience. When provoked, it is easy to get enraged, but holding your emotions without venting will yield better results. Do not hold grudges against others or make hasty decisions as you did. Never hold a grudge on others and take hasty decisions like the one you made. There will be one or the other at every place to test your patience and provoke you. So you just respond and don't react. So now that you're upset take a day off from work and think about what I told you and figure out what you can do to make the situation better. 

After hearing my mom's suggestion I decided to go to the office early and tell him that I was sorry for yesterday and explain the situation and make things better. Luckily after going to the office my colleague responded positively to my apology. He apologized for being rude at the first point. I felt happy that this issue dissolved and thanked my mom after going home. 

"If you get provoked by someone don't react but respond."