Disaster Averted With Good People Skills

Today is Halloween. Does it seem like Halloween is becoming an increasingly important holiday? Has some 10 year old with a huge sweet tooth been appointed Halloween Czar?

I was thinking of some scary story that I could tell that would be consistent with the Halloween theme. I love a good story. In fact, my life mantra is, “Life is a funny story, embellish it.”

Every now and then trainers get together at leadership conferences and trade stories. Here are 2 stories that I heard from colleagues that I thought fit with the Halloween them.

An HR manager told of a manager who was having an affair with his secretary. He began driving his motor home to work and would go to the parking lot during work hours and take a siesta (if you know what I mean). His wife became suspicious about why he was driving his RV to work. His wife came to his work, caught her husband and his secretary inside, and parked the car against the RV door preventing their escape. She then began to douse gasoline on the camper threatening to roast them both inside. Police were called and the lovers averted becoming Kentucky Fried.

The second story involved an HR manager who was forced to terminate employees as part of an employer cost reduction program. In the middle of one of the terminations, one man reached inside his jacket, pulled out a gun and sat it on the table. The man replied, “Well, I guess I won’t be needing this”. The HR manager said that it was the first time that he realized that his good people skills were more than just nice to have. You see the terminated employee had intended to take himself out and take a few others with him if things went badly. Wheeew…..disaster averted!

May your Halloween be a safe one and remember that good interpersonal skills may someday come in handy!