When Bosses Cry

(It is the day after Prince’s death, and my senior colleague, whom all of us respect, is complaining about the choices of drugs available after a minor medical procedure; not one of them works for her.)

Me: “Maybe you’re just too demanding.”

(She stares at me with a blank face; I have never spoken so disrespectfully to her before. I go on.)

Me: “Maybe you’re just like my father, too bold.”

(A junior colleague lets out a shout of laughter, and everybody starts smiling. The senior colleague looks shy, tries to smile, and has to have the joke explained to her so she can figure out why I “disrespected” her.)