Vulnerability

So… yesterday was an interesting day. Well, interesting if seeing the somewhat vulnerable side of colleagues counts as that.

Yesterday morning I got an e-mail from an old boss asking if we could have a chat, as he wanted to discuss something personal with me. I couldn’t think what personal issue he could want to discuss with me, but said it was fine to have a chat and met up with him yesterday afternoon. He is a chap in his early to mid fifties and was my boss a couple of years ago. He’s a lovely bloke and was a really nice boss and I was really disappointed when he moved on. Anyway, we went and had a coffee and a chat and he basically talked to me about some serious personal problems that he is dealing with at the moment and we talked about some stuff that had happened with our old boss and the serious bullying that we had endured and soem other stuff that had gone on when we worked together.

He’s this posh, middle aged chap who is old enough to be my father and he sat there telling me about some stuff that made him feel so vulnerable and, I think it’s fair to say, scared and I just sat and listened and tried to give him a bit of reassurance and context on the stuff that was going on for him. It’s not right for me to explain what that stuff is here and you wouldn’t guess it from what I have said either - but it was something really serious and I felt so upset for him both during and after the conversation but there’s nothing that I can actually do for him really and he was just looking to make some sense of it all. He doesn’t want anyone else at work to know and so I will continue to ponder it and hope that it doesn’t turn out to be as serious as it looks at the moment.

Anyway then I went back to my office and a few minutes later went to the toilets. As I was about to go into a cubicle someone I worked with a few months ago saw me and in a conversational way I asked her how things were going and she just burst into tears. Even though at times I can be somewhat dense, even I could pick up that all was not well and so we then spent a while talking about what was going on with her at the moment (which is work related stuff) and she seemed a bit better by the time we had finished talking (and I was finally able to go to the loo…). I work in such a happy place sometimes…

On a lighter note I met up with a friend for dinner last night and we were in the Leicester Square area while the Harry Potter premier was on. We walked round the edge of it and into Chinatown and Dr Who walked past (otherwise known as David Tennant) and he was wearing a maroon velvety suit for those who are interested. My friend was decidedly non-plussed but I was quite impressed to have come within stroking distance of a time lord. But perhaps that is just me.