Managing Men: Guys, Please Stop Worrying About My Feelings

Managing Men is a new weekly column centering on what it is like to be a woman in charge of the men in the workplace and the challenges and situations that ensue.

"We'll talk about this later." That's what I hear every time my manager needs to ask me about something but we're not in his office with the door closed. If there's a possibility that someone will overhear us, then he refuses to talk to me about anything that I might have done wrong. He wants to do it in private.

At first, I assumed that this was just an extremely personal and smart way to deal with disciplining employees. I appreciated that my boss saved reprimanding until it could be done privately. Then I realized that I was the only member of the sales team who received this special treatment. Every other employee was reamed, screamed at and degraded in full view of the rest of the office. Finally, once I felt that I had a decent working relationship with my superior, I asked, "What gives?"

"Well, I'm always afraid that you'll start crying."

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