I am going to try to start putting the more personal day-to-day survival posts over here. This WordPress blog has been sorely neglected for a while.
One evening back in our apartment, H asked if she could speak. This was unusual, because we rarely speak unless we need to.
“Is it personal or profesional?” I asked.
“Both,” H replied.
“That – is never a good thing,” I remarked wryly. H gave me a perplexed look. Yes, I know, I can be a bitch at times. As it turns out, I was right.
H told me she had just invited two of her staff to stay over at our apartment. I happen to know the staff in question. According to H they have been having some trouble with their housemates at the company dormitory, and they wanted to move out. They needed a place to stay until they could find alternate accomodations.
There has been different versions of the story going around the office. But the version I heard was that their housemates have a habit of partying into 3 am in the morning, and the two staff, being the shy, non-partying sort, have been having trouble sleeping. They come to work tired, and it has been difficult for them. There were other allegations that complicate the matter. But at the end of the day, H told her staff they could come over to our apartment until they find a place.
She didn’t exactly ask me before offering our apartment. Which again annoyed me a little. Yes, she did ask me. After the fact. I could have said no, and it would have been embarrassing for H to tell her staff they have to sleep somewhere else. The truth of the matter is: it was not within my nature to say no to something like this. I justwish H could have show more respect to the other party sharing the apartment – me.
Sometimes I think H has the social skills of a turnip.
But there is also another concern – which is the question of how this crosses a line professionally between H and her staff (and by implication, between myself and the staff) M, my department head, felt it sets a bad precedence. While we work closely with our staff, we are their managers, not their friends. He felt it was inappropriate for H to invite the staff to our apartment.
The way he put it: the next time someone else has troubles at home, does it mean they can also stay over at our apartment? If Person X argues with her husband and needs a room for the night, can H say no, when she offered it to Person Y?
I see M’s point. The thought has occurred to me. But it has been done. I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.
