> I recently walked into the break room to find a tearful colleague (with whom I am friendly but not friends) telling another that her daughter is very ill. Feeling awkward, I walked past them, quietly got some tea, and quickly left. Am I horrible for not stopping to share some kind words? Or would it have been rude to intrude?
D.P. / Andover
Comments
I do not understand the North-South allusion here, except that it seems to be an attempt to generalize (I dare not say stereotype because that would imply that Miss Conduct is disrespectful). In any event, its use does not make a point, only a false assumption. If one is not supposed to have heard some private information, then one should treat the information as such. That is, "I didn't hear anything." That does not stop the co-worker from showing her usual friendliness and concern to the other worker. But actually making an overture to the distressed mother, via a note, that "her secret is safe" is going a bit far and exacerbating the original, embarrassing intrusion. The mother did not open up to the letter writer (yet) for a very good reason.