"Thank you for being nice to me"...she said

“Thank you for being nice to me” - words spoken through tears by “Mary” to my wife at a Frontier Airline gate in Denver over Thanksgiving.

Mary was sitting across from us at the end of the row and suddenly buried her head in her hands and started to cry.? No one was with her, and she carried nothing with her except the obvious pain evident in her tears.? My wife got up and sat next to Mary, placed her hand around her, and they talked.? Mary would explain the reason for her emotion, and it was during this conversation I heard Mary say the words, “thank you for being nice to me”.?? I won’t share the story of Mary’s pain, but I will say that my wife and I could very much empathize with her given our own life story. But the words, “thank you for being nice to me” touched my heart and have haunted my mind since.

Our workplace is a dynamic environment with influencing factors including the ?work itself but as much or more because of what we bring with us from our lives outside of work.? Some compartmentalize better than others, but I don’t believe one can completely turn-off the outside when coming into work.?? The Christmas season is an especially sensitive time as it brings a variety of emotions.?? We look forward to and celebrate in songs, laughter, the aroma coming from the kitchen, the anticipation of opening gifts and of seeing loved ones.? The Christmas season, however, can also be a very difficult one for many people.? Pain of those no longer with us, estranged family members, those suffering in sickness.? Everyone’s experience is nuanced to circumstances that come every holiday season or perhaps this year for the very first time.?

How then do we navigate the workplace given this certainty?? Yes, we have responsibilities to our business, our clients, and our customers that need to remain front and center, however, it’s imperative in whatever role we have that we are especially aware of this reality.? It is within this dynamic someone may need an ear to be listened to, a shoulder to lean on, and to be empathetically asked “are you okay” and in return, you may hear, “thank you for being nice to me”.