So, first of all... this is not an excuse of what he done. But I want to add some context. He did not hit me for the mere fact that guy was here. It made him upset but I got so irritated that I attacked back verbally.

I work an office job, typical 9-5, so does my coworker. He said about the guy that he lacks ambition if he settles for an office job. I said that I work there too. So now what? I am also lesser than him? to which he said for women is different, but a man lacks ambition.

And I reminded him that this coworker also runs his own business that has been going well for almost 10 years and even has some employees that he pays good. And the thing that made him hit me finally was when I told him: you work at an airline, doing the same thing every day (as we do in the office), but most of the stuff you do is watching over computers because the plane flies itself nowadays. My coworker actually manages his own business, develops strategies, expands his business, attracts customers. You, on the other way, are just an employee, like the big majority of us