Everyone is Human - Even the Boss

You need to know this and so does your boss. The boss is human, HR People are human, the Controller is human. Just because these people have more responsibility, doesn't mean they don't have bad days, make mistakes, get grumpy, and react negatively to others that are grumpy. The boss shouldn't have to be more professional, more calm or more anything than anybody else. Employees constantly want the world to be fair. To make that happen, if I have to let you yell at me, you have to let me yell at you. Isn't being fair really a game of tit for tat where you get the same thing that I get and no one else gets more? Wait, that doesn't sound very "American" didn't we come here or our ancestors come here to get ahead in the world? How is it fair that the employee next to me gets more money because they were with the company longer even though we have the same years of experience? Wow, that whole fair thing is a trick. The distorted concept of fair and the misguided notion that we need to make every employee "comfortable" to address their concern has degraded respect and humanity for leadership in the workplace. My mom was right when she said fair is a week in August and she could show me where it will be. Now that we have established that the concept of fair is a trick of the mind. Let's get back to the idea that we need to cut the leadership some slack when their turn comes for a bad day or a mistake. The majority of bosses are okay people that want to help the company run so all of us have a job tomorrow. Take a minute to assume positive intent in their approach and have the respect to approach them directly. The biggest mistake we have made in establishing employee expectations is allowing them to expect managers to be super human and letting them call an employee hotline or go straight to the top every time their feelings are hurt. Personal accountability and adult interaction are endangered species. Please remember you work with humans that deserve to be treated humanely.