A waiter pours a bowl of boiling water over a woman customer after she complained about his service. [Photo/IC]

A male waiter recently allegedly poured boiling water over a female customer at a hot pot restaurant after the woman was caught complaining about the waiter’s bad service online. This incident stirred an outcry among netizens and opinion leaders.

The female victim, 29, surnamed Lin, reportedly got into an argument with the waiter, 17, surnamed Zhu, when Zhu refused her repeated request for additional soup for her pot.

Lin was rushed to hospital after a few minutes scuffle and was diagnosed with severe burns on up to 40 percent of her body. The waiter has been arrested for further investigation and trial.

Many netizens criticized the waiter for being too “impulsive” and ignoring the possible consequences, but some also accused Lin of being too picky. Meanwhile, some came up with a question worthy of discussion: How to keep ourselves safe when we argue with others.

Many tragedies are caused by arguments and if the victim can control his or her anger and try to reach a compromise, the tragedies could possibly be avoided. Sometimes so-called “cowardliness” can be a form of self-protection, especially when you are faced with strangers and you know little about their personalities.

Intolerance has contributed to lots of violent incidents. When they calm down afterwards, they would regret their “ridiculous” behavior and have to pay the price for the consequences.

In May, a male driver in the southwestern city of Chengdu was captured on film intercepting a woman’s car and dragging her out of her seat, throwing her on the ground, before savagely kicking her several times on the head, simply because the woman abruptly changed lanes in front of his car.

So next time you deal with conflict, it is more advisable to control your temper and say “sorry” with a smile.

Keep a low profile and be friendly to others. Forgive others’ mistakes and avoid fueling others’ anger. Accordingly, you may be less likely to suffer from unexpected troubles.

The above is an opinion article published on ifeng.com