"How many of you have been angry at least once today" asked the conductor of an anger management seminar (讨论会). According to an article in The New York Times, most of those in the room raised their hands. "The fact is," the seminar leader continued, "people get angry an average of 10 to 14 times a day. But anger is especially endemic (常见的疾病) to work. If you have a job, you’re guaranteed to get angry."
Had I been in the room and heard that last remark, I would have respectfully disagreed. Although some statistics indicate that the number of on-the-job anger has increased in recent years, to hold on to the belief that workplace anger is therefore guaranteed is counterproductive. It leaves one with the impression that any efforts to remain good-tempered at work are, at best, only a band-aid (临时措施).
Anger-management experts do offer a few common-sense guidelines to minimize work-related anger: don’t let it fester (化脓); don’t look for snubs (责骂) in what are purely innocent incidents; don’t get caught up in other people’s complaints; if you start to lose control, take a Break.
I would add, pray. We can infer from the passage that The New York Times is probably a kind of ______.