66

I was a little too harsh on a colleague today.

He asked to help him get something working... After looking at it for a bit, I asked: "I don't get it, what have you been doing all day? Yesterday we split this element into two separate divs, and it worked perfectly, now I've see you've moved all the styles back to the container and there's only one div. The easiest way to get this to work properly is to simply undo everything you've done today."

He looked at me with puppy eyes and I realized I was too harsh. He wasn't _trying_ to break everything, he just hadn't understood why we split the element into two divs. So I lowered my tone a bit, and explained everything again, from the start, then did it again together with him and made sure he understood the separation.

But I still feel bad for how I talked to him. It's not like I shouted or cursed or anything (and I curse a _lot_ when talking about code). It was just condescending as fuck, and belittling. As if I was mocking him for not being as experienced as I am.

I'll do better next time.

Comments
  • 8
    Happens to me too.
    I don't know why but I get irritated.

    I try to maintain a calm voice, but I'm not good at faking.
  • 6
    I've done this before too. There is something about us that feels the need to punish ugliness. Especially ugliness in implementation.
  • 11
    Ya done good. Damn puppy eyes. Fucking puppy eyes.
  • 4
    I like to think of it as speaking to kings and thieves. A lot of the people I sometimes feel better than are usually a lot better than I was in their position...they're just diamonds in the rough.
  • 1
    @Pizza same here.

    I expect people to do better and learn faster than I did.
    I just keep telling myself, why so mad I was just like him.

    What is worse is when the mistakes are fucking basic stuff..
  • 0
    Tell him what you told us if you really want to make it right!
  • 0
    Same for me, sometimes it gets so bad, (close to deadlines) that I say:better if I do it. And then feel guilty as fuck :/
  • 1
    Its ok man :) at least you acknowledged it :)
Add Comment