Hacker News Reader

This. A lot of younger folks confuse assertiveness with being confrontational. I made a tactful suggestion that maybe our agendas are too full because we start every meeting ten minutes late. That was too confrontational according to my boss. Lol. I just can’t be quiet when table stakes stuff like this is happening.

Or, you can blow some steam with a sport. Repressing feelings can turn to be for worse (yeah, it's cliche to say it but not less truthful)

I don't think it's a cut and dry issue. Many, if not most jobs/contracts put you in a very awkward position of dealing with something or someone who is incompetent, unfair, etc. I don't see a normal human reaction to that as being a personal or professional failure. It's unfortunate, but I think that rather than necessarily just being better at suppressing your natural reactions, the takeaway might be to try harder to get better colleagues.

Easier said than done though.