Melina Murray

Someone I know has a close, but not direct, family member who was recently and surprisingly diagnosed with terminal cancer and has perhaps months to live. She was devastated, yet committed to helping out and supporting the rest of her family in any way possible through the initial emergency, surgery and diagnosis. Consequently, she showed up late to work a few times, and took some personal calls during “work time”. Her supervisor (large company) pulled her aside one day, fully aware of the circumstances, and told her the infractions were not acceptable and that her personal problems had no place at work.

My response was “want help finding a new job?”. She has since left the company.

Was she getting her work done? Yes. Was someone else burdened with picking up her work? No. Was her quality slipping? No, she was receiving positive feedback consistently. There was no reason to chastise this woman other than the fact she was not strictly working from 8 to 5.

What this did do was to deflate her morale and make her feel like the company didn’t care. And, like I said, she is no longer with this company.