For me, it depends on the circumstances. During my childhood, I was deathly afraid of my father, because he was abusive verbally, so I was unnaturally afraid of him. One night, just before I went to college, he did something to me, and I went ballistic at him. He was shocked, and from that point on, I stopped being afraid of him.
Now, I take a different approach. I get my points across, but in a firm and definitive way, without yelling, or cursing. I have found this to be most productive in the last five or six years.
Sometimes, we can't "go off" on people, because they have power over us, (I.E. bosses or positions of power, so in that case, I have learned to temper my feelings, and keep them inside.) It sometimes can make you upset, but there's really nothing one can do about it. We can't just "go off", on everyone we would like to. I generally pick my spots. I don't get truly upset with someone, even if they are coarse with me, but mean well, but when someone attacks my character, or is rude, or nasty, and runs roughshod over me, that is when I truly feel like saying "fuck you", and going off on them. I can handle criticism, if it's presented in a constructive way, and not presented like:" Oh, Mitch you are a bad person, or a failure, or you suck, etc etc, etc" I learned this in college. My father, when he would do things to me, would not be constructive, but rather destructive, which is why I resented him. If, for instance, I had a professor in college, who criticized my work in a constructive way, I was more than happy to discuss, listen, and change, whatever he or she wanted me to do, to make things better for myself, and easier on them.
So, for me, this question depends on circumstance, who is doing it, and how they are doing it. To get back to the original thesis, yes, of course I have felt like going off on someone, but, as is appropriate, I pick my spots.
Mitch
