I decided to cycle on the pedestrian walkway as it is usually empty. While I was cycling on the pathway, a middle-aged man was walking towards me. I noticed that he was using his phone, instead of looking out for his surroundings from a distance. Right before we collided with each other, I swerved to the edge of the path to avoid collision. However, it was too late because he was oblivious to his environment. His phone dropped on the ground when we knocked on each other.
He immediately blamed me for not alerting him with the bike bell. Initially, I apologised and explained to him because it was unintentional. However, he was agitated and insisted that he would report me to the school to take disciplinary actions on me. Upon hearing that, I got furious and spoke to him harshly. We ended up in a heated argument because neither of us is willing to back off. He hurled a few vulgarities at me and threatened to fight me. He finally got hold of himself after awhile and told me to get out of his sight immediately. I rode off feeling infuriated. On the way back, I reflected on this whole incident. I was indeed at fault for riding on the pedestrian walkway, but he was distracted as well.
If you were in my situation, how would you have handled the situation differently? (294 words)
Commented:
Gordon
Haziq
Hong Kiat
Revised:
23/2/2018
23/2/2018
Thank you, Wei Ming, for sharing this dramatic interpersonal conflict. Your description is generally clear, comprehensively described and articulate. From the post's tone we can feel the tension in the air.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few language problems in terms of verb tense inconsistency and phrasing. See this sentence as an example: "However, he was agitated and insisted that he will report me to the school to take disciplinary actions on me." >>> However, he was agitated and insisted that he WOULD report me to the school to take disciplinary actions on me.
This sentence is also a problem, albeit for the verb used: "The lack of communication can arise conflict."
I look forward to your revision and reading your peers’ feedback.
Hi Brad,
DeleteThank you for taking your time to read my post and giving me feedback. I will definitely make the necessary amendments.
Regards,
Wei ming
Hello Wei Ming,
ReplyDeleteI empathize with your situation and I strongly feel that the guy is the one that is in the wrong. He should be more aware of his situation and not be in his own world speaking on the phone.
However, I feel that you are too impulse on getting into a heated argument with the guy. You should have ride away and not care about him as it would not aggravate the situation.
Cheers,
Gordon
Hi Gordon,
DeleteThank you for taking your time to read my post. I will take your advice if such situation occur again.
Regards,
Wei ming
Dear all,
ReplyDeleteI thought long and hard about this incident, and I feel that both the guy and I are in the wrong. With reference to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), we were both on assertiveness side, as both of us believe that we were not the person at fault. Either of us could have been more cooperative and accommodate to one another.
Like what Gordon suggested, I was definitely too impulse and should have taken a moment to calm myself down before speaking to him harshly. This could have prevented a heated argument that caused both of us to feel enraged. I should have controlled my anger upon the collision and should avoid getting into a heated argument with the guy. A collaborative solution approach should have been taken by talking to him in a friendly manner so that both of us would understand one another’s feelings. In this situation, I agree with the guy that I could have used the bicycle bell to warn him as this would have totally prevented this collision.
If a similar incident were to occur again, I would use more extensive preventive measures like using the bicycle bell to avoid harm to anybody. I should also maintain my composure and apologise more sincerely, and to explain to him in a friendlier tone.
Regards,
Wei Ming