K.Lo, being K.Lo, has exhibited her full range of personality and emotion during our Company Inspector’s visit, and though notes have been steadily recorded and stowed away in the Inspector’s file, it has been somewhat validating to hear an outsider’s neutral, pragmatic assessments and observations. No points have been docked from our company’s overall performance review, thankfully, regardless of our first-hire’s fairly frequent trips to the Dark Side, even those that are triggered by the smallest, most inconsequential shifts in the workplace environment.

Exhibit A: The Manager sits in one Conference Room chair next to a sleeping K.Lo, while catching up on paperwork. Deciding she’s uncomfortable with the lack of elbow room, and assuming the employee might enjoy a little more space for her (unauthorized) Afternoon Break, she moves five (5) feet away to another Conference Room chair.

That’s it, she simply relocates to another chair. Same room. No words are spoken, no fanfare is created. The bear, however, has been poked by this clear violation, this great upset of employee order and control, and the following scene ensues.

Add in the appropriate screeching and wailing, crank up the volume, and then crank it up a little more. Let that tape roll about three times longer than you would expect it to last. Maybe four.

It’s…not at all dramatic. Really.

And, you know, what can a Manager do. Luckily, payoff and redemption eventually exist in the form of K.Lo in her Happy Place. One just needs to wait, assisting wherever and however possible in aiding this employee along, toward the light. The best managerial practices toward achieving this goal are not always clear, but we do return there, eventually.