Dear roe:

What I think happened is that when the customer expected you to go to her place to troubleshoot the problem she had, you felt threatened. It was as if her expecting you to go to her place meant that you had to do so. And so, feeling threatened you turned to anger, so to defend yourself from the perceived threat.

If she only expressed her expectation that you go to her place, not knowing that it is not your job to do so during the weekend, then she didn’t bully you. She just didn’t have the information you had. If that was the case, it would have been appropriate and professional on your part to give her, in an even tone of voice, the information she didn’t have, that is that it is the weekend and it is not in your job description to go to her place, and that she can go to headquarters, if she would like.

There was no need to raise your voice or to tell her that you didn’t have to take her call at all.

If after you gave her the information, if then she argued with her, then what I would have done, if I was you, would be to repeat myself, not in a louder voice but in a firm voice. If she continued to argue, then I would say: I need to end this call and I would hang up.

As to your question, “does being rude equate to losing my temper?”- in this case, having been rude (and you were unless she argued) equates to you having felt threatened, and then angry.

anita