I don’t remember exactly why Frank yelled at me.
I’d done something wrong, I know,
but whatever it was, I assumed it was a small thing,
an easy fix,
something that I couldn’t imagine being such a big deal.

Frank did not see it that way
which is why the short quiet man raised his voice
so that the entire office could hear.

I was bemused.
I was embarrassed.
I figured it was over as soon as it occurred
but my supervisor said
that it wasn’t cool what Frank had done
and if we didn’t address it now
problems between us would just get worse,
so I reported the incident.

I assumed either Frank would be disciplined by his supervisor
or I would be asked for more details
by a neutral party.
Instead, I was told that a meeting was arranged
so that Frank and I could discuss our issues with each other.
Alone.

“So the guy who publicly attacked me and the guy who finked on him
get to meet behind closed doors
with no one else around…”
My supervisor apologized. She had not expected this turn of events.
I tried to get in Frank’s shoes before our meeting,
to understand his POV.
I understood my own point of view,
and wished nothing had ever occurred.

Frank was a QA guy with limited attention to detail.
As Quality Assurance guy, he would definitely catch a lot of errors,
but his communication skills were lacking
and was pretty officious with me.

My attention to detail was not great,
and since I provided the assignment he’d been working on,
Frank could get frustrated when the parameters would not be exact,
which was probably the problem.

With no one to moderate our meeting, we were heading into a shitshow.
Still, orders were orders.

We sat together for a minute or so
before I tried to initiate a discussion.
While I spoke, he never took his eyes off his phone screen.

Luckily the CEO’s right hand came in
and opted to chair the meeting,
effectively saying “Why can’t we all get along?”
Frank and I ended up shaking hands
and tried not to work on projects together
for the rest of our time at the company.

It wasn’t a great solution
but it made the best of a bad situation
and I wasn’t yelled at again
in that office.