Meet the “Son in Law”

Not really sure how far I can carry this analogy but Work Son in Law seemed a bit awkward.  Anyway, got an IM from the Work Daughter since they were briefly in town on Sunday and wanted to get together for coffee.

Turns out she needed a little advice.  Well, I think what she really wanted to do was talk things through and get a different perspective.  There is always a part of me that thinks I’m in no way qualified to be giving life advice to another person.  Something about never really feeling like I’ve grown up enough to do that.

Not going to go into great detail except to say it was about job offers.  Do you take a sure thing even though it is a temporary job and is paying you less than market value.  Or do you hold out to see if the other options come through.  Think she really just needed to hear someone else tell her that there are circumstances where it is perfectly acceptable to turn down a sure thing to wait for something better.

Got the scoop on her future husband and he seems like a decent person.  Got a good vibe off him and there didn’t appear to be any major red flags.  We talked about the wedding and plans and they want to do something with us out of town guests.  So it should be fun.

I’m thinking it will turn out better than one of the people on my team who had to talk with me today about her problems.  Not entirely sure why she wanted to share all this with me but I guess she needed to unburden.  It is kind of a tricky spot because you only get one side of the story and so she can certainly make him appear to be much worse than he truly is.  Or, he could be exactly what she says.  But, in her mood, she didn’t need someone taking his side or suggesting other possibilities.  So all you really do in that case is listen and offer some supportive comments.

Also had two other people in my office today with various personal issues.  They were telling me because both would require some time away from work.  Which is not a problem but some take a little extra convincing that it is actually OK to take care of yourself even if it means you flex your work day a bit.

Some days I feel like Lucy offering psychiatric help.  Except I don’t charge a nickel.  Maybe I could put a can on my desk.  It might be a good income stream.  (I’m only kidding about that part)  To be honest, if you had told me many years ago when they made me a boss that this would end up being part of the job, I would have said “you’ve got the wrong guy”.  In the end, I know I’m not offering world class advice but sometimes people just need someone to listen and care and I think I can do that.  Even if I don’t charge a nickel every time.