Another aspect of my job is dealing with personalities. And, boy do we have several here at work.

There�s this one particular guy who I�ll call� E.

When Ben first told me about E, he had been struggling to get over his divorce. Then, when I first started working here, he was going through grief over his ex-wife�s death from cancer. At the same time, he became the sole guardian for his teenaged daughter who was having a difficult time adjusting to losing her mother. (Of course!)

I also learned from talking with him that he�s hypoglycemic. He warned me that if he doesn�t keep his blood sugar regulated, he can be a real a$$. A month later, a little of his temper flared up, but nothing serious.

Over the last several months, I have made sure to go out of my way to ask him how he�s doing. (Oh, and he also has medical issues in addition to he�s got some physical disabilities.) Some days are good. Some days are not. Some days he has to walk with a cane. On those days, he uses his handicapped tag and parks in the front of the building. On the good days when he doesn�t need his cane, he parks further away from the handicapped spots.

Monday morning I noticed he had a bit of a scowl on his face. I said, �Today a good day?�

E: �No.�

Me: �Well, maybe things will get better.�

E: �I hope so.�

Then yesterday I saw him in the conference room filling his mug with coffee. �Hi, E,� I exclaimed!

�Hi, Michele,� he grumbled back.

�You doin� okay?�

�No.�

�Well, I hope things get better for you, E.� I respond.

�I doubt it, �he muttered.

At this point, I opted to just leave him alone.

Later, a phone call came in asking for one of our techs in a particular division. I placed the call on hold, picked up the phone, dialed the extension to make a page and said over the loudspeaker:

�_______ tech, you have a call on Park 1. AOCC in regards to Pompano. Again, ________tech, AOCC is on Park 1. Thank you.�

(I�m not putting in the type of tech that was requested in order to keep this anonymous as possible. Just in case. You know, CYOA!!!)

I thought nothing more about it.

Until an hour later when E came to my desk (with an attitude and a chip on his shoulder) and barked at me: �We don�t need an entire dissertation when you make a page, alright?�

As he ended his sentence he turned on his heel and walked away. I was left there with my mouth gaping and a stunned look plastered to my face. Before I knew what hit me, my eyes were damp with tears.

Poor Coral even thought that his behavior was uncalled for and apologized to me for having to put up with it. I couldn�t focus on the spreadsheet I was working on and decided that moment was a perfect time to hit the restroom. As I sat there in the stall I replayed the entire scene over in my head.

I was so overwhelmed with emotion I was almost paralyzed. I was stunned at what just happened. I was hurt because I knew how much I go out of my way to be extra nice to E. because of his situation, etc. After I was done and washed my hands, I went back to my desk. I sat there for about a minute before I realized that I still wasn�t ready to get back to my previous task. I grabbed my cell phone and headed for the break-room. Immediately, I called Ben. I was on the verge of crying during the entire conversation. I calmed down finally and went back to my desk.

I was able to get to a place emotionally where I could at least finish what I had started. Then right after lunch, E. came up to my desk with a Leave Slip in hand. As he hands it to me for the �To Be Signed� folder, he says quietly: �I�m sorry I lost my cool with you earlier. I shouldn�t have done that.�

I replied: �Apology accepted.� Immediately, my demeanor and my emotional state changed for the better. He went on to say (a little nicer this time) , �We just don�t need all that information on the page. Just tell us that AOCC is on the line and we�ll pick up.�

�Well, just so you know, there have been times in the past where I�ve paged a ________ tech to pick up Park 1, only to see that no one has. And, AOCC sounded like the call was urgent because someone was actually waiting at our Pompano facility.�

I also was proud of myself for telling him in a very kind way that he hurt my feelings because I try so hard to be extra nice to him. He replied, �Yes. You are always very nice to me, Michele. I�m sorry. I shouldn�t have done that to you.�

Again, I told him that his apology was accepted and the rest of the day, he was totally cool with me.

The reason that I am posting this on my diary page is to illustrate that there are good people still left in this world� what I mean is that it was very BIG of him to come to my desk and apologize. Most people wouldn�t have the courage to do that. It�s a lot harder to admit to another human being that you were wrong. But, I�m glad that he did. He really is a teddy bear�. You should hear him go on and on about his daughter. He�s smitten with her. He just has some really bad days and chooses to react poorly to them.

As we all do occasionally.

Until next time�peace, love & HEALTH!!!