I'm always disappointed when I encounter incompetence. I don't think I have unrealistically high expectations of people — in fact, I expect people to have varying levels of competence, yet I'm still disappointed by it. Perhaps it's just that I get annoyed when I encounter incompetence that adversely affects people's perception of my own competence.
And it's not just incompetence. I place strong value in the relationships I cultivate, at work and elsewhere, and when someone steps in and messes up my hard-won trust, I just get pissed.
This has happened at work twice in as many weeks in ways that I take very seriously. As I've discussed it with coworkers and my bosses, I've found that few people seem to be as upset about it as I do.
Am I just being egotistical? Am I allowing myself to think that others are ruining my wonderful work? Not very team-playerish of me. But I don't know if that's really what's going on here.
I may have to do some more writing on this later.