I often complain about not having tact when I talk to people. I consider myself to be somewhat reserved, but when the floodgates open sometimes I surprise myself by some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth. Yes. It’s been established that my mind-to-mouth filter malfunctions at inopportune times. Such is life.

I’m bringing this up because there was a small incident at work that’s making me think. See, I’m not sure whether the event serves as another example of being tactless, or whether I was just being a bit assertive. While I was over at a coworker’s desk, we both heard this guy at the other side of the office let out this really nasty belch. I looked at my coworker as we immediately knew who it was. We paid little mind though and continued our work. Moments later, the same guy starts playing with this clacking noisemaker toy. CLACK CLACK CLACK. It was loud and piercing, even from far away. People started poking their heads above the cubicle wondering about the source of the noise. After a minute of clacking. My coworker and I stand up and peer in the direction of the noise. I don’t know what came over me but I firmly yelled across the office: “XXXXX! Stop it!” He stopped.

You’d think I would have felt relief after, but instead I was a little bit embarrassed that I didn’t have more constraint. I don’t want it to seem like I have a short fuse. My coworker and I had been at work for 9 hours at that point; we were both tired. That probably had something to do with it. Still, is this a tact issue? Or rather just taking control of the situation? Hmm. I’m leaning toward the latter, but even so, I need to find a way to make a distinction.