If you live on planet earth, there is a high likelihood that at some point, you are going to piss someone off.

Resource: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/piss+someone+off

I can’t think of any job I’ve ever had where I haven’t had to deal with pissed-off people. In fact, I’ve dealt with and defused so many pissed-off people that it’s actually become a skill that I enjoy practicing.

If you are in a management position, the probability that you or your team are going to piss people off is even higher. Your team is bound to make a mistake. In fact, they are bound to make several. They are only human, after all.

Earlier this week, I had one of my staff ping me with a “heads-up” about a meeting that I was about to take. This client was upset because some of the plug-ins on her website were not working as they should, and my staff member sent her an incorrect link to purchase the license to the plug-in so we could update it. Reportedly, this client got very angry that that link was wrong. My staff member apologized and rectified the situation but the client continued to be angry.

From my experience, usually, people get pissed off at customer support staff because that’s who they can feel like they can take their anger out on when something minor happens. It is usually the result of compounding issues. Maybe this client was having a bad day; maybe she was confused by the website lingo that was used; maybe she was short on time and couldn’t process clearly what she needed to do; maybe the area she’s in is in lockdown at the moment. Are those good enough reasons to write a nasty email to a real human with real feelings? I don’t think so, but people do it anyway.

It’s also not a good reason to throw coffee at a Tim Hortons drive-thru employee, but I digress.

The thing about “pissing people off” is that it is their reaction. Bad things happen all the time, but humans have the ability to choose how they react to them. Rarely, is the result of someone’s anger, solely your fault.

We employ empathy big time at Gym Lead Machine. The majority of our clients are gym owners, and most of our staff either owned gyms or worked in gyms before coming to GLM. We know what these people are going through when it comes to lockdowns, member troubles, marketing frustrations, and website confusion.

We know that the struggles of our clients are heavy, and we do the very best we can to help them. Often our staff goes over and above to do so, but there are times when someone on the other end of an email will react without thinking. That’s okay because our clients are only human too.

So the next time someone pisses you off, instead of reacting, take a beat. Recognize what’s going on around you and all of the factors that lead up to this feeling. Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, tells us to draft a letter (or more appropriate for the day and age, maybe draft an email) that we will never send. Go for a long walk, workout or take a nap. Get that frustration out in a healthy and harmless way.

And the next time you piss someone off, remember that it’s probably not entirely you, it’s mostly them.

Also, remember that you can’t please everyone; you aren’t pizza. 🍕

p.s, the conversation with the above gym owner was actually really wonderful. She is a sweet human and we made it through our differences. I’m excited to help her with a brand new, fully functional website 😍