Anger At Work (1956)

This is a story about one of the mental mechanisms of man's personality, his displacement of anger onto other men, and how it impairs his efficiency in everyday living. My name is Ed Wilson. This is my story, but it could be yours. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Get out of here. Kind of rough on you, isn't it? >> What do you think? >> Well, it is rough. Here you are, new man on the job. A boss comes along, spoils your drawing, balls you out to boot. Makes it kind of hard to take, doesn't it, >> brother? You can say that again. >> I know just how you feel. But I don't think you're going to help the situation by blowing your stack. You know what you have? Some people have a word for it. They call it the old headache switch. >> It's a headache. All right. I don't know about a switch. What's a switch got to do with it? >> Well, you know how it is. Get long >> for me. Well, that was the way it started with a spoil drawing, a burned up boss, and old Frank McCoy filling me in on the headache switch. The way he told it, the switch is a trick you pull when you've got a headache. It's when some kind of trouble burns you, only you can't do much of anything about it. So, you just build up steam till another kick comes along, then blow your stack. Displacement, the doctors call it. It's one of a whole bunch of bad mental habits people use to dodge their troubles. Frank claimed I'd fallen back on it when Carter smudged my drawing. Me, I couldn't swallow that. Who wouldn't yell with all that work spoiled? Besides, I hadn't been mad about anything till Carter stuck his big mitt in. Or was I forgetting something? Frank said I was. He reminded me how jittery I'd been starting in on my new job here. Asked if maybe I hadn't felt like I was on a spot. Resented it. Then there was the fat tire that made me late for work this morning. Frank said I'd look plenty sore when he passed me. I sure had to admit that one. Who wouldn't be mad with a tire ruined? But according to Frank, a grown man doesn't feel like he can throw a tantrum over a flat tire. So he stockpiles his temper till something else comes along that he can scream about. something like my smudged drawing. Only when you react 10 times too strong like I did, you just buy yourself more trouble. Carter, sure he was a pain in the neck, but he was using the headache switch himself. Frank said seems he had a screw ball wife. She was so jealous she phoned him just about every hour on the hour. had him all on edge. [Music] He'd even whooped himself up an ulcer, and he took it all out on the hired help, bossed everybody around on the one hand, slapped up things himself on the other. It wasn't a pretty picture. I began to feel sorry for Carter instead of mad at him. Maybe even understood a little better how much trouble that old headache switch can cause. But I had work to do. That spoiled drawing to trace over. So it still didn't sink in too deep. What happened that night was a different story. If there's anything I hate, it's a messy looking yard. [Music] I let Sarah have it straight. Maybe too straight. [Music] She let enter joy, sent him out to clean up the mess he'd made. [Music] He went out all right, but to sulk, not to work. Then I saw him try to kick rags, and that did it. Joy loves that pup more than he does Sarah and me both put together. If being baldled out about the yard tied him up so tight, he'd even kick rags. Well, all of a sudden, I didn't need any more blueprints about how the headache switch works or what bad business it can be. All the trouble that day, even after what Frank had told me, I'd left the plant with a chip on my shoulder. The mess in the yard gave me an excuse to blow up. I took it out on Sarah. She let off her steam at Joey. He dumped his headache on rags. And rags, well, he's taking it out on the neighbor's cat. Talk about your vicious circles. And it didn't even get results. Joy sure wasn't doing much about that mess in the yard. I felt like two cents. Went on out into the yard to try to make things right. Kids go a lot farther when they learn to enjoy what they're doing. Make a game of work. Share it with somebody who doesn't act like it was a prison sentence. Soon as Joy saw I really intended to help him, he pitched in, too. That's the way kids are. They copy folks around them like crazy. [Music] In half an hour, we had a clean yard. We both felt a lot better, too. And Joey had started to realize that work can be fun. From there on out, I learned fast. Hardly a day at the plant, but I picked up some new twist on the way people switched their headaches. Mrs. Nent was one of my best teachers. According to Frank McCoy, her trouble was another gal, Miss How, Mr. Bragg's private secretary. Not that Mrs. Net saw it that way. She claimed her whole problem was typing. It gave her headaches. Real skull splitters. But Frank could remember when the headache started. Right after Miss Howal got the promotion Mrs. Nent wanted. Only Mrs. Nent couldn't bear to admit that she'd let her work and her looks get sloppy. [Music] So she began to have headaches. especially when she had to take orders from Miss How [Music] Miss How was Mrs. Nent's real headache, but Mrs. Nent switched it to her job, her typing. [Music] Pretty soon things got so bad she'd have to quit work early. [Music] She convinced almost everybody, even Mr. White, the office manager. But poor health can backfire, especially when it's a headache switch. [Music] Mr. White finally decided Mrs. Nent was more bother than she was worth. [Music] The headache switch cost Mrs. Nent her job. For Tony Luciana, it was worse. He paid for it with his hand and his trade. Tony was a punch press operator and the fast one, [Music] but he had headaches at home. A kid who seemed to make a business of getting into trouble. Serious trouble this time. Tony was mad. Mad at the boy, mad at the officer, mad at himself for not having any answers. He brought his burn to work with him, took it out on his machine. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Science gave Tony a new hand, but he isn't an operator anymore. And it didn't have to be that way either. You can learn to handle a headache switch just like any other bad habit once you face up to your feelings. According to Frank, the first steps to look at your mood a minute before you blow your stack. That's what I hadn't done when I let go about my smudge drawing. One of Frank's favorite tricks was to talk out his troubles, make jokes of them. It got rid of a lot of tension for him. The way you feel about your work makes a difference, too. Take old Gus Peterson. He's proud of his skill. Too interested in his job to waste time on small headaches, [Music] including me. [Music] Gus's experience makes him an important man around the plant. If he builds up steam over anything, it comes out in better work. [Music] With Bal Peek, it's different. He sweeps just for the pay. Gets his kicks outside the shop at home in his garden. He's got a headache, a bad grouch. He takes it out on the weeds and weeds he can chop down without making anybody sore. [Music] And that's the way it goes. Each man's got to find the system that works best for him personally. Like O'Shea, he's our top salesman. That's off steam now the same way he did when he played for the Redskins. Running touchdowns on tough customers. [Music] O'Shea's got the team spirit. Selling's a game to him. Our company's his outfit. And if he's got any tensions left over, sports are still a good way to cut him loose. For OA, that's a good system. But everybody uses the headache switch one way or another. It's just that some folks don't understand it, so they let it file them up. It makes Carter a bum supervisor. Cost Mrs. Nent her job. Tony Luciana lost the hand on account of it. Other folks play it smarter. Like old Frank, he laughs his troubles off. [Music] Gus Peterson works his out. Valick chops his down with the wheats. [Music] O'Shea forgets his on a golf course. Good tricks, all of them. They work. I found that out when I began trying them myself. [Music] So, I had a bad night. [Music] Okay. I learned to take that into account when the coffee tasted awful. just admitted I'd tasted better instead of yelling bloody murder. And it paid off. Sarah told me the stuff was just a sample of a new brand. Said she wouldn't use it again. [Music] Bad day at the plant. [Music] I tried to get my mind off it by planning a new cabinet for Joey's room. Even bought the lumber on my way home. [Music] I found Carter's ulcer couldn't touch me if I was bearing down on my work. Really interested in it. Before I knew it, I was a better draftsman. Maybe even in line for Carter's job someday. Grease on my pants. I told Frank about it. Made a joke of it to help get it out of my system. And it warned Frank, too. Let him know this wasn't exactly the best day I'd ever had. [Music] Trouble with Joey? I parked three blocks from the plant, walked off some of the steam. [Music] Then old Frank retired. Sure, we played it for last. But saying goodbye rocked me hard. He taught me a lot, then the best friend I'd ever had. But the real payoff came next day. I felt bad to begin with, knowing Frank was gone. And as if that wasn't enough, here sat this new guy. A cool looking fish if I ever saw one. He already even said hello to me. [Music] I gave him a special ink tracing job like Carter told me to. He didn't act too happy about it. [Music] Next thing I knew, he'd spilled India ink all over his first drawing. A draftsman who didn't even know how to open an ink blot. What a jerk. What am I gaping at? He asked. Brother, I nearly let him have it. Only then those ink blotss hit me. Why, this was just like it had been my own first day here. even to the headache switch. This new guy, he he was me really. Jittery, shook up, scared to make a mistake. So he took it out by freezing on me. [Music] Well, Frank had understood. He'd set me straight even when he knew I'd maybe bite his head off. So now could be it was time for me to take the same chance with this new man. crying out loud. >> Why don't you just relax and take it easy? First day on the job, it can be pretty rough. You know, besides, I don't think you're helping things any by pulling that old headache switch. >> I uh uh headache switch. What's that? >> Well, you see it this way. Everything starts off bad during a day and then you >> Yes. Anger at work. Displacement. The old headache switch. One of man's problems in everyday life. [Music]