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Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

#81

Post by sublinear »

wara23arish wrote: post #55
cletus wrote: post #23

Mandatory Seinfeld reference [1]. Honestly, this is good advice. So much of work is actually just perception management. Looking annoyed or angry without actually being mean or inconsiderate is a bit of a cheat code. Beyond perception management there's the issue of avoiding unnecessary interruptions. It can be hard to define what's necesary and what isn't. Rarely does it have anything to do with what someone is inte…

I have noticed this since joining a new team this year. There is one person on my team who is always annoyed and complaining about something but really they just dont get anything done. There are various times I had to work with them, and when there are no blockers whatsoever they wont do shit. I would love to be able to say “do something about it” when they goes on their rants but american culture is too polite. Mos…

Sounds like you should move over to Docker :p

Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

#82

Post by P5fRxh5kUvp2th »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #68

I've gotten this feedback from those around me for years. Even before I was a coder, when I was an ESL teacher in China, I had multiple students approach me (those I had made friends with, they were all 20-somethings and over) and ask me if I was OK, because I looked angry. I appreciated their concern but I didn't feel angry, so I had no clue what they were talking about. It was only later that I learned about the co…

I don't think resting bitch face is about looking angry, but I understand your overall point.

Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

#83

Post by badcppdev »

wara23arish wrote: post #55
cletus wrote: post #23

Mandatory Seinfeld reference [1]. Honestly, this is good advice. So much of work is actually just perception management. Looking annoyed or angry without actually being mean or inconsiderate is a bit of a cheat code. Beyond perception management there's the issue of avoiding unnecessary interruptions. It can be hard to define what's necesary and what isn't. Rarely does it have anything to do with what someone is inte…

I have noticed this since joining a new team this year. There is one person on my team who is always annoyed and complaining about something but really they just dont get anything done. There are various times I had to work with them, and when there are no blockers whatsoever they wont do shit. I would love to be able to say “do something about it” when they goes on their rants but american culture is too polite. Mos…

I remember working with a team where a new starter had joined and although he talked a lot in meetings I wasn't sure what he was contributing. I checked the code commits and he had committed 2 things in a couple of months.

It wasn't my team so I didn't cause a fuss but from that point onwards I made sure that he wasn't on the critical path for anything I cared about.

In hindsight the mismanagement on that team probably led to the exit 5 years later being $100-200 million lower than it could have been. But the company was super stingy with shares so I'm not sure it would have been worth my time rocking the boat.

In other hindsight I might have realised why I look angry while I'm at work.

Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

#86

Post by Bilal_io »

Tade0 wrote: post #56

I stick my tongue out to the side like a cartoon character. I always thought this was just some sort of trope and not a real thing, but then one time my monitor went blank suddenly and I saw myself.

I just pictured a bearded guy (myself) with a tongue out, wearing a hat facing a bit more to the right, while leaning forward typing on a keyboard. Amusing picture, but unlike me. I look angry when in deep thought and focused. And loud when excited in discussions you'd think I am yelling.

Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

#88

Post by tiborsaas »

neilv wrote: post #6

"Do you suffer from Bitchy Resting Face" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XinArKp_6fs

Although kinda unisex name, the male version is the resting murder face. Which sounds about right for certain kinds of bugs :)

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Resting%20Mu...

Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?

#90

Post by piva00 »

zzzeek wrote: post #39

When I was in second grade, which per my timeline, was many years before anyone had access to "a computer" outside of a college lab, I recall doing some kind of arts and crafts thing, or fixing a pen, or something, and I channeled a bit of my dad's energy and got very focused on this task. In second grade, it was before they shuttled me off to the gifted and talented program with other "smart kids" so the other kids…

> nowadays I'm very often a flaming angry coder but that's real anger. It feels the same as when you get angry to press the fire button really fast in a video game, kind of thing. It's been a major issue for decades now as if there are any other people around, I have to really watch my mannerisms and mumblings because there have been negative outcomes from it.

I'm the same, I completely control my mannerisms and usual expletives when coding near people because... It can get fire-y for no reason, I know that it's just work and code but my inner monologue needs to vent out each frustration I find. I learned that it can appear quite toxic for an outsider, they don't live in my head to know that saying "this fucking bullshit shouldn't have been done this way" is not a judgment on anyone's character or technical abilities, I'm very aware that crappy code was done under constraints (skill level, time crunch, so on and so forth) but somehow I do need to be angry about it to push myself around to fix stuff that doesn't seem right.

It can look aggressive and whiny at the same time and I definitely want to avoid people having this impression of me because I truly don't care so much, it's just work and I kinda gotta do it this way when alone to keep myself in it.

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