Lesson #15: Don't Let Your Anger Get the Best of You

Anger is a totally normal human emotion that everyone has experienced before. And as much as we don't like to admit it, we've all had moments in our lives where we have let our anger get the best of us. Much of the time, it seems that we let everything build up inside of us until we finally just blow up over something that really isn't worth getting so upset about. I have definitely been in situations like this where my anger has gotten the best of me, and I have always regretted it afterwards.

Out of all six of the friends, Ross definitely has the most difficult time managing his anger.

In his defense, he does have plenty to be angry about--his several divorces (including his impending one that is a result of him saying the wrong name at the altar), the fact that he just lost his apartment and had to move in with Chandler and Joey, and probably the most devastating of them all, that his boss ate his sandwich.

  

I know what you're thinking, it's just a sandwich. It can't have been that big of a deal, right? Wrong.

Because this sandwich wasn't just any regular sandwich. It was Monica's special Thanksgiving leftover sandwich. When Chandler tries to make light of the situation and point out that it was, after all, just a sandwich, Ross replies by telling everyone, "I am 30 years old, I'm about to be divorced twice and I just got evicted! That sandwich was the only good thing going on in my life! Someone ate the only good thing going on in my life!" Monica offers to make Ross another sandwich to take to work, and Phoebe writes a threatening note for him to put on his lunch so that nobody steals it again. However, this note is a little too threatening and causes people at work to become scared of him.

At work, Ross' boss Donald confronts him about his recent behavior, and Ross responds by telling him that he only had to get tough because someone ate his sandwich. As they talk, Donald reveals that he was the one who ate Ross' sandwich, and Ross doesn't exactly take it well. 

After yelling at his boss, they bring a psychiatrist into work to see Ross, who then tells him that he has to take a leave of absence from his job. Ross starts to get "worked up again" over this news, so the psychiatrist gives him a tranquilizer which calms Ross down substantially. 

Clearly, his sandwich isn't the only thing that Ross is upset about, but the way he chose to handle the situation ended up almost costing him his job completely. It's important not to hang on to anger because if you do, it can ultimately end up controlling you. 

Media courtesy of (in order of appearance):

• dcofibgs
• tumblr
• ELLE Australia
• Pinterest
• Comedy Central UK
• hitflix