Vindication is morally questionable, but someone could be tempted to it to attach consequence to the offending behavior. After deciding not to take the low road, how did you handle these situations in the future?
That's a very good question. Since then, I have never had a coworker treat me in such a fashion, and so I cannot speak directly to it.
What I can do is express that the reflection of myself in that scenario was one I didn't like, and I've become quite a different person overall since then. My conflict resolution methods in general are much more constructive. When I have a problem with somebody I am calm but direct and tell them what the problem is. I used to mistake being blunt for being rude, but blunt (as long as it is kind, and not vicious) can be very effective.
By "vindication" do you mean "revenge"? Because vindication is absolutely not questionable. Revenge may be questionable, but I find that not teaching bad people a lesson isn't much better.
It could have been worse. I was at college when I heard a previous bunch of students took vengeance on another student by replacing the magnetic disc in his 5 1/4" floppy with a circular disk sander.
What I can do is express that the reflection of myself in that scenario was one I didn't like, and I've become quite a different person overall since then. My conflict resolution methods in general are much more constructive. When I have a problem with somebody I am calm but direct and tell them what the problem is. I used to mistake being blunt for being rude, but blunt (as long as it is kind, and not vicious) can be very effective.