office rudeness

How do fellow bloggers deal with rudeness? I ask this question because unsolicited rudeness is something I find hard to deal with like a resonsible adult. I usually sulk about it for days until the offender is accidentally nice to me and then just put it down to him/her having a bad day - until it happens again, when I usually do the same.

On Tuesday, I answered the phone to a customer who asked to be put through to Rita - names changed to protect the innocent - i.e. me. I took the name of the customer and attempted to put her through to Rita. The line was busy, so I tried to get the customer back on the line and take her details so that Rita could phone her back later. As I did so, the line was cut.

I went into the main office and approached Rita. "Rita," I said. A Mrs Z. phoned and wanted to speak to you. Your line was busy and I'm afraid the line got cut before I could get her phone number."

She fixed me with the kind of glance you usually reserve for half a worm you've found in your apple after you've just taken a bite out of it. "The line was cut because you tried to put her through to me when I was already speaking on the phone. That's what happens when you try to connect people with phone lines which are already busy, isn't it." She turned away glacially and made another phone call.

Apart from demonstrating a lamentable lack of awareness as to how telephone systems operate, the terse retort from my co-worker was definitely somewhat lacking in common courtesy. I was miffed. What would fellow bloggers recommend? Should I search for an opportunity to respond in kind? Should I put it down to a bad day? Stick rusty pins into any doll I can find which bears a passing resemblance to my ungracious co-worker? Take an assertiveness training course and then sit her down and have a mature chat about the need to respect the rules of day to day courtesy? Let her tyres down? The alternatives are legion. Except she's part owner of the school and best friend of the boss of the company, so any of the more enjoyable responses could have a serious impact on my employment prospects.

Kalhnyxta se olous, good night each a nos da i chi gyd,

Jamie