hombre horible.

I was moved to tears twice this weekend. Well once Friday morning and once Sunday afternoon.
I'll stat with the pleasant one. I held a baby that was less than 24 hours old. A squashed up hideous thing. She belongs to one of my crew. Over the years I been the first non-family member to hold 12 newborns. It always gets me.
I will do the Family Leave paperwork and send the woman on her way and usually within the week I get an excited phone call in rapid Spanish about the new baby. I'll swing by Target and get a couple of ones-es and a stuffed animal and then swing by Publix for a fruit tray the next day and head over to the Hospital at lunch. Then I'm holding a squashed up red new person and crying.
It's the complete innocent look on the babies face and knowing what's coming that bothers me. The horror of potty training just snowballs into school, dating, jobs and on and on.
Then it's back to work!
Friday's boo hoo session was a horse of a different color. Another woman on my crew to see me alone. As soon as the office door closed she started crying and begging for 2 days off to take her daughter to the hospital for some tests. I said "No problem, sweety, you can have all the time you need. Get the test done so you can figure out what is wrong." Then she started in on how wonderful I am and she was so sorry that her daughter's illness was keeping her out of work so much lately. She apologized for taking the poor thing to the Doctor.
I had to stop her and tell her the truth. "I am the worst son of a bitch you will ever meet." After she left I shed a tear or two with the door locked. How bad can life be when you look up to some one because he did not fire you for getting a 3 year old medical care? How horrible must it be when the person who gave you a 3% raise takes on a paternalistic roll?