I've never been a screamer. I only get angry about big things, like child abuse, war and genocide, and I it motivates me to do something constructive. Other stuff, like people who are annoying or rude or mean, cause me to react by avoiding them and maintaining my own peace of mind.

Here's an example. I work in advertising sales, where I have to walk in to businesses every work day and meet people who are a complete unknown in how they will react. It takes courage to do this, and the ability to let other people's mood not affect me too much. Some people I meet have ads in our yellow pages and some people are new prospects for advertising. You never know if the person will be considerate and can say yes or no politely, or if they are mean, rude and irrational.

Last week I met one of the most angry, rude and down right mean customers I've had to deal with. She is a Realtor in Wyoming (I don't know why the most rude people I've had to work with are in Cody and Powell) and most of her customers are finding her number in her yellow pages ad. I had been given her account to take care of among hundreds of others in Wyoming, so I had not met her before. As a professional graphic artist, I often re-design ads so they will be more effective and find ways people can save on the rate and increase their Return On Investment. I made a more attractive ad for less money than she would have to pay to renew the previous ad, and made an appointment to meet with her. When I arrived at her office, she began screaming at me from the first moment. She threw phone books at me across her desk, threw paperwork at me, yelled at her secretary, screamed at me, then finally renewed the ad, gave me a check and said, "that looks a lot better than what I had before".   I remained calm and reasonable throughout the whole meeting and wished her good luck in her sales when I left. I hope I never see that woman again. I plan to give all the Wyoming accounts back to the manager next year for someone else to call on. People who take their anger out on others are on my 'avoid' list.   

I had a couple of near death experiences when I was younger, and that may be why I "don't sweat the small stuff".   I've had several people ask me why they never see me get angry. I think they mean they've never seen me yell or throw things or something like that. That behavior is counterproductive, so I don't do it.

Alice