In the Indian language of Malayalam, there's a funny saying which literally translates to
Picking a fight with your mother at home because you lost a fight at the marketplace.
It means taking out one's frustration over one incident on someone else.
I found that Displaced Aggression and Redirected Aggression have a serious note to them.
Is there some equivalent phrase in English that is on a lighter note?
It's not an exact match, but you could consider using "Go home and kick the cat (dog)" which is
a metaphor used to describe how a relatively high-ranking person in an organization or family displaces his or her frustrations by abusing a lower-ranking person, who may in turn take it out on his or her own subordinate.
The term has been used at least since the 19th century. According to author John Bradshaw, humans were far more cruel to cats at that time, to the extent that kicking one was not perceived to be unusual and hence entered the language as a popular idiom.
The idiom could be used when you vent your anger on or lash out at innocent people or pets who are weaker or lower-ranking than you.
[Wikipedia]
Bark up the wrong tree: may convey a similar meaning, in the sense that you are giving vent to your frustrations with the person who is not responsible for them:
Fig. to make the wrong choice; to ask the wrong person; to follow the wrong course. (Alludes to a dog in pursuit of an animal, where the animal is in one tree and the dog is barking at another tree.).
- The hitters blamed the team's bad record on the pitchers, but they were barking up the wrong tree.
You could consider getting one's knickers in a twist
If you get your knickers in a twist, you are angry, nervous or anxious faced with a difficult situation
Usage:
Raju's team lost the hockey match. He couldn't show it in the ground so he got his knickers in a twist when he got home
