How specific do I get about an incident at work for the purpose of venting?

I had a miscommunication with a co-worker of mine today.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’m pushy, and I usually think I’m right, but I try not to be condescending or insulting.  I really do try.

This co-worker of mine recently got an iPhone.  She was telling us a story about a phone call that she had gotten the other day that said “Blocked call.”  Perhaps it’s just her story telling technique, or perhaps I jumped to conclusions, but she repeated three or four times that her phone rang and “blocked call” came up.  For whatever reason, I thought she mistakenly believed a “blocked call” was one that her phone wouldn’t allow her to pick up.  I said, sort of quietly, “Well, that just means that there’s no caller ID…”

She stopped, looked over and me and snapped, “I KNOW what it MEANS!” and then continued with her story.

I was a little taken aback, but I tried not to let it bother me… I might get insulted as well if I thought someone was completely undermining my intelligence.  She has a daughter around my age, so I sort of assumed she had a knee-jerk reaction.

About an hour later, she came over to me and said, “I’m not telling you this to make you cry or anything.  I snapped at you earlier.  And it’s because you say things sometimes that are just… you just say things.  Things no one wants to hear.  You do it to me, you do it to the others and you do it to the doctors.  You just jump in.  It’s not acceptable.”

The snapping I handled quite easily.  This part?  Wow, I really didn’t handle it so well.

I managed not to cry at work at all.  But I came home and fell apart.  That’s a whole lot to stomach in one shot, and I have never before in my life been made to feel so completely alien, outside, and un-liked. 

So, as I pick my self-esteem and self-worth up off the floor, shake the dust out, and start packing my bags… I just wanted to make sure I let everyone know that I’m going to be in California for the next four days.  I might have internet there, and so I MAY get to post, but probably not.

Have a great weekend.