This past week I had the incredible experience of going to Mexico with family. We had a relaxing, serene week consisting of card games, good books and endless margaritas. It was close to perfect... except for one experience that left me questioning how others' reactions can be so drastically different from my own.

Let me set the scene:

It was a beautiful, balmy morning. My dad had decided to splurge and rented one of the fancy cabanas by the pool for the day for an additional charge. Ready to get my tan on and dive into Aziz Ansari's "Modern Romance," I spread out my towel and sprawled in the sun.

A few hours later, a middle-aged man approached me and my sister, abruptly waking me from my sun-induced slumber.

"These are my chairs. You need to move."

No introduction or "excuse me," just a harsh statement and command.

Confused, partly because of my interrupted nap, but mostly because we had been led to this location by a staff member, I reassured him that we had paid for these chairs and perhaps he had mistaken this for another cabana.

"I don't care that you paid. These are my chairs and you need to move now."

At this point, as two young women in a foreign country, my younger sister and I started to feel uneasy. Were we in the wrong chairs? Even if we weren't, should we still move? Should we apologize or stand our ground?

At this point, the man was speaking so aggressively to us that a few resort employees joined the conversation. Much to my relief, they affirmed I hadn't done anything wrong and explained to the "gentleman" that we had paid for these seats. They invited him to perhaps reserve a different cabana for his own, or reserve this one at a later date.

Flabbergasted that his macho man routine had flopped, he tried a new tactic: swearing out everyone involved.

In the end, the staff was able to get the situation under control, but it was obvious my family members and the employees involved were left feeling uncomfortable and weary. It didn't help that the defeated was not quite ready to retreat, and paced within earshot of the cabana for the next hour, whispering insults to his lady friend. We were the ones apologizing to the staff for his behavior, while he sulked with a permanent RBF.

Ultimately, this situation was rather juvenile and somewhat easily resolved. I probably shouldn't have let it get to me in the first place. Yet, the longer I sat there, and the longer that man continued to denigrate everyone involved, I was honestly astonished that someone could act this way. Especially a grown man! If he basically blew a gasket about not getting the perfect beach chair, how did he react to important, substantial real-life situations? And how often did this work out for him?

In the end, I feel sorry for this man. I truly believe he does not understand the idea of mutual respect and probably suffers from it on the daily, causing him to continually use aggression to try and reach his goals rather than relating to other humans. I wish him luck in his life and hope, if anything, others can use him as an anti-role model.

What it comes down to is that everyone gets frustrated sometimes. I know I do. And that's OK. However, it's how we translate that frustration into problem-solving that can really define a person. All I know is I always want to choose being kind over being rude, even when I'm irked or irritated.

And I'm pretty sure it will work much better in my favor, too.