Thursday, January 28, 2010

Day 7 - Pulling the Pity Puppy Face

We all have, in one way or another, seen this in action. A colleague asks you what you're up to, you deliver less than stellar news because you mistakenly think they want to know or you need a network to work for you, and then this: [Pause] [Processing] [Pity] then ... "Ohhhh. I'm really sorry to hear that."  [Accompanied by the sad puppy face]

In my case, my lay off got the quadruple whammy tonight within one hour. They mean well but there's only so many "It must be the end of the world for you" looks that I can take. Near the end I was torn between rampaging (oh - there you are anger! Brilliant!) or walking out. 

People mean well. I appreciate that. And I know that I was probably the jackass that did this in my past. BUT instead of jumping to the pity puppy face, next time just ask how someone feels about it. You'd be surprised at the answers.

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