Jay drove to his job by himselfevery weekday. On this particular Monday morning, he arrived in his
Question:
1 T: What's your problem? What the hell did you do to my Honda? I said, 'What did you do?'
2 J: I drove into my spot and didn't see your bike. What was it doing parked there?
3 T: Look, my tire's flat. I can't move the wheel. Crushed in and doesn't move.
4 J: I didn't see it until I was on top of it.
5 T: You are going to have to pay for this. I can't afford this.
6 J: What was it doing in a parking space?
7 T: What's your problem? It was parked. Look at the wheel. You came around pretty good.
8 J: Listen, this is my spot. I didn't see it, and it shouldn't have been there. You're lucky I stopped when I did. Look at my bumper. What was it doing there?
9 T: You ass. Who cares whose spit it is? Some jerk like you drives over my Honda and says, "This is my spot." I don't care who you are. You will fix my Honda!
10 J: You are the one with a problem. Do you work here?
11 T: What does that have to do with anything? Stop looking at your bumper; it looks fine. I want your driver's license and insurance.
12 J: Who in the hell do you think you are? (Starts walking away.)
13 T: You are not going anywhere. (Grabs Jay's arm.)
14 J: Let go of me. You are screwed. I'm calling the police. (Turns to move toward the office.)
15 Tim slugs Jay from behind. The two scuffle for a few moments until others arrive to break them apart.
Step 2: Respond to the prompts below
Choose any four consecutive lines of dialogue from the scenario above. For each line, label it with the label below that you think best describes that message or behavior:
- (A) avoidance (withdrawal)
- (D) distributive (antagonistic)
- (I) integrative (cooperative)
- Do you see a pattern in the labels you applied? If so, what is it, and what might that tell us about the conflict? If you don't see a pattern, what might that indicate about the conflict?
- In what ways does the context for the conflict impact the interaction? Use specific examples.