A few months after becoming office manager at a fast-paced Manhattan firm, I grew frustrated with my chaotic boss, Ms. Harrison, who constantly disrupted my systems. The breaking point came when she told me to pick up her dog in the middle of a crucial payroll deadline. I refused, and her ominous reaction made me suspect something illegal.
Then I noticed the “dog walker” and “groomer” secretly using her locked executive bathroom without ever touching the dog. After hours, I investigated and found a hidden safe and a medical-grade air filtration system. Inside the safe were files revealing her husband’s severe lung condition. The bathroom was a disguised sterile treatment room, and the dog errands were a cover for his medical visits.
Realizing my mistake, I apologized. She confessed she hid his illness to protect the company. I spent the next year helping her manage everything discreetly, and she eventually made me a partner.
The lesson: sometimes an unreasonable request hides a burden you don’t see—and empathy matters more than assumptions.
