The other day I received a phone call from my mom while she was at work. She was laughing hysterically and it took her a few minutes to explain to me what was going on. She basically told me that she needed my advice because she was out of her element. For all that know my mom know that this it is very unlike her. She is a general manager of a large company and does a fantastic job (I hope to be like her one day). However, it is clearly apparent that I am more sensitive and empathetic than her. She asked for my help on how to handle the following situation...
She was recently transferred to a store in which they are understaffed on assistant managers and supervisors. This particular day they already had two assistants scheduled off when another assistant called in stating he couldn't come in because of a family emergency. Now my mom isn't completely cold hearted and listened to his emergency. After hearing his story she explained that she was sorry, but since they were shorthanded he needed to come in. The guy came in, but moped around for about an hour. He eventually pulled my mom into the break room and started crying and yelling saying how it isn't fair and he shouldn't be there since it was a family emergency. This was my mom's response... "I'm really sorry you had to come in, but I'm sure your Uncle's cat will be okay." Yep, you heard right his family emergency was that his uncle's cat had broke it's leg. Are you serious? Now I'm not a huge animal person, but I do understand the attachment to pets. Still is it really necessary for you to call off work because your uncle's cat broke it's leg? It's not like the cat needed surgery or that this guy even lived with the uncle or the cat. I was dumbfounded... Am I just insensitive or does this seem a little extreme?
8 1/2 years later
4 years ago
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