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Old 04-26-2009, 06:23 AM   #1623
Brinty
Avalon Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Blackbutt, Queensland, Australia
Posts: 1,004
Default Re: _AVALON LOUNGE_ Open 24 hours

Some years ago I read an article where it was suggested that each of us has at least three levels or degrees of interaction with those around us.

1) There are the topics that we will discuss with immediate family and a few really close friends.
2) There are topics we will discuss with those we work with or come into contact with on a regular basis.
3) Topics that we will discuss with complete strangers.

In each of the above cases we also have levels of intimacy. The interesting thing was that we would be more likely to discuss intimate details with a stranger rather than with workmates or family and friends.

Bosses can have pressures that employees are unaware of and these can in some cases alienate or preclude friendliness in the workplace. Away from the workplace, all these barriers are dropped and the bosses become "human."

I recall a salesman who worked for the same company that I did. He was a really pleasant though fussy sort of a bloke. He eventually became the branch manager. Some time (about six months after his promotion) he had a problem with his telephone and asked me to have a look at it to see what the problem was.

This was in the early 70s long before mobile or cell phones. Turns out that he kept it in his drawer to muffle the sound of its ringing. He also had a whole pile of paperclips loose in the drawer and they had got into the gubbinses of the phone and produced a rattling distortion as they interacted with the magnets.

Anyway, after I'd cleaned them out he asked me to stay and have a coffee with him. He called the office girl and ordered two coffees then began to tell me how lonely he felt since his promotion.

Now that he was the manager all the other salesmen seemed to avoid him and he pointed out that the only thing that had changed was his job description. He asked me to pop into his office from time to time and have a chat as he felt alone and rejected.

I was both pleased and embarrassed at the same time. For the next few years until I left the company, I'd pop into his office from time to time and have a chat over coffee.

I heard that he eventually became the general manager for the country and many is the time I've wondered since if he ever again had someone to chat with over a coffee from time to time.
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