Shauna Moerke is…

I am an empathetic, trustworthy, attentive, and approachable person. Or at least that’s how I think people view me. Good things, right? Yes, most of the time. I find it helpful in my position that people feel they can talk to me. It keeps me better keyed into how things are going and how people are feeling. That makes me valuable to my boss and better able to meet the needs of the employees and management.

And then there is the down side. People tell me things. Personal things, financial things, gross things, unnecessary things, holy-crap-why-did-you-just-tell-me-that? things. It doesn’t matter if I’ve known them for 5 years or 5 minutes. This is why I think I would make a good FBI agent (part of it at least). I can see the confessions piling up.

I don’t mind being an on-site sounding board for employees, but I do wish people would have a sense of boundaries. There is such a thing as being too honest and too open. When you confess to someone, you are essentially placing a burden on them. To listen, to provide assistance, to deal with the stress your revelations cause, or to even take action. I have no training in counseling despite a Psychology BA, and sometimes I find myself wishing I did. But that’s not really the solution. I find myself handing out information on our Employee Assistance Program like it’s going out of style, but I worry employees aren’t taking advantage of it. I also don’t want to discourage people from talking to me.

Any suggestions? Let me hear it in the comments.

At the very least, I could do her job.