Why is my coworker always angry?

If the anger is aimed at you, write it down. Date, time, who was there, what was said, in plain words. Keep it somewhere that is not a work system.

Know your route before you need it. A manager you trust, human resources, or a union representative if you have one. Knowing the route is not the same as using it.

Irritation that is there most days. Complaints about the system, the client, the printer. A reaction far bigger than the email that set it off.

And it moves. Monday morning it is calm. Thursday afternoon, the same question gets a snap. So you have learned to check their face before you walk over.

Anger that is present most of the time is carrying something, and it started before the email in front of it. Pressure, a life outside work, a body that is tired.

When a reaction is far bigger than the event, the event was a switch, not a cause. A shared office gives the heat many places to land.

You are not managing a coworker. You are managing a weather system you did not make.

It is not about you asking the wrong question, or asking at the wrong time. You have tried better timing, and the mood stayed.

And it is not yours to fix. You are a colleague, not a manager of their mood. Cheering them up is not in your job, and it does not work.

Notice what happens in you when their voice rises across the room. Shoulders up. A tight jaw. Your own work stops while you listen.

Put work questions in writing where you can. A short message is easier to answer calmly than a face across the room, and it leaves a record.

Do not match the heat. Keep your voice level and your answer short. "I'll come back when you have a minute." Then go.

Stop carrying the mood for the team. You do not have to warn others, soften every request, or explain them to new people.

Take a break away from your work when the room is hot. And one thing is not in your control: their mood. That is their work.

Check what has changed. Whether you dread Thursdays. Whether you do tasks yourself to avoid one conversation. Whether you carry the tension home and snap at people who did nothing.

This page cannot see inside them, and it will not guess. What it can say is that anger present most days is carrying something that started before the moment in front of you. The office is where it shows, not where it began. Stop reading their mood as a grade on your work. Keep your questions short and in writing, and protect your own afternoon.

Some people read this page about a coworker and recognize the heat from the inside. The Rage Pattern is the pattern where anger arrives far bigger than the thing that set it off.

Do you snap at colleagues over small things, then replay it on the drive home? Then that file may be yours, and it is the one pattern here you can work on directly.