Would You Feel Awkward?

I wouldn't criticize Bob at all here, to be honest. Betty hit him with her information AS SOON AS he walked in. It sounds as if she expected a response from him immediately that she gave correct information. She then proceeded to give more details on the conversation she had with a client which forced Bob to give more reaction/response.

It sounds as if he was trying to be gentle with her except she kept snowballing the situation with more and more information, digging herself into a deeper hole. She's the one who didn't give the situation the privacy it required. She should have waited until Bob was in his office and settled in or e-mailed Bob with the information.

Instead, Betty sucker-punched Bob as he was walking in the door. I have a feeling that after you were gone, Bob would also have reprimanded her for airing the company's dirty laundry in front of another client as well as putting him in a position of having to address the issue as soon as he walked in the door.

You're right -- he shouldn't have reprimanded her in front of you.

Oh boy, if you were an employee who worked there, I'd think that he was ok saying it with you there. But as a customer? Oh no, he has to maintain his professionalism in front of his customers. Yes, he was probably caught off guard, but as a person in a leadership position he should have already figured out ways to respond to situations like that where he can tell the person that they will discuss it later. All he needed to do was say something like, "Thank you for telling me. We will discuss it" and then walk away. He could have gone to his office and called Betty into his office later to talk about it. Much more professional, and no one loses face.

I'm not even sure he knew you were there in a sense, like he saw you but was so irked at having to deal with her doing this AGAIN that he didn't process it, UNLess he made eye contact with you or was trying to pull you into it,
I personally think you should have stepped away as soon as she started to give him the message or at least when he started in on her.

yes maybe he should have held his tongue but he is a human too. so in all of this, i say just lay low for a bit and try to move on.

Yikes... I agree with you, awkward all around...

Totally inappropriate.

He should have spoken to her privately, even if you worked there.

And yes totally awkward.

Yea.That would be awkward for me to

Bob should not have said anything to Betty in front of you. I've been in similar situations with total strangers. I just turn and walk away when the person with whom I'm talking starts to give someone else a message and it turns into something more than a quick exchange.

This is especially awkward for you because you're friends of both and because of your friendship it is even less appropriate for him to talk with her while you're present.

I would try to put it out of my mind. I would tell Betty, if she wants to talk about it, that it's none of your business and that you're not willing to talk about it if that's the way you feel about it.

I suggest that as a good friend it may be helpful if you do give your take on the situation but only if she asks you for it. I've often had a friend clue me in on a work habit when I didn't understand why my boss was displeased with me. I would want a friend to help me. But then, I always ask for input.

I agree with Lillym. I think he was caught off guard. Yes, Betty was all kinds of wrong to give too much info. It seems that she wants to be sooooo professional to show everyone that she could have his job--that she is overstepping her role. She may find herself out of a job soon...

Friendships outside of work don't matter. He is a boss. You are a fellow employee. It's silly that he behaved that way, and should not blur the line between employee and friend.

He acted like a jerk. A boss should never do that in front of others. This should have happened behind closed doors. I don't actually think she did anything wrong. It would have been better for her to give him the message without you there, but I've been front office. Sometimes, it's hard to get people, if you don't give them a message when the come in. It would have been better to wait, but it wasn't wrong. It WAS wrong for him to insult her at all, let alone in front of a co-worker. He is a boss, he SHOULD know better, and treat his employees better. If he needs to talk with her or discipline her, it shouldn't have been there.

Yes, I would have felt awkward. I also would have felt disappointed in my friend, that he behaved so poorly. You've never SEEN him behave that way. Do you really think he just all the sudden acted like a jerk, this one day? I bet this is not uncommon.

Not really. I am friends with people I work with but I am not friends with my coworkers. In other words at work we are coworkers out of work we are friends.

You are a grown up, not a child, why shouldn't you hear that discussion? Should your boss be concerned with who you like and don't like and consider your feelings? That would be silly.

I don't know, maybe it is because I am a professional, I make management decisions, I don't see what the big deal is. Thankfully I work with professionals and when I tell a friend they did something wrong they know it is business, it has nothing to do with outside of work. I suppose it would be different if I worked with a mess of immature people but then again I am not friends with immature people so it still wouldn't matter.

I don't think that Bob was wrong. Betty should have been mindful that your ears were present and, perhaps, walked with him to his office. She shouldn't have mentioned it in front of you. Also, she probably should have just waited until he got settled in before throwing him a problem to solve. Oh, and Bob was right that Betty should have kept her trap shut to the client. Now, he's got to take back the unsolicited option that she gave the client. It seems that Betty was out of place all the way around. Once you heard that she was conducting business with him that did not involve you, you should have excused yourself.

Awkward, yes; uncommon: no. A couple of things. One, Betty overstepped her boundaries and should have known better, so Bob condescendingly corrected her. Second, by belittling her in front of you--Bob showed someone (you) his superiority and that he is the boss. Third, maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day which is why he acted like a jerk. Whatever be the case, I've seen this so many times. Those in charge love to treat those "beneath" them like sh**. It makes them feel superior.