A minor situation, and thoughts on inaction

[warinbear]

I am acquainted with a co-worker, a woman I'll call K here. She is quite successful by the standards of the call center where I work, in terms of customer satisfaction, average time required to handle a call, and other metrics. She also has a quick, dry wit, and she's not shy about suggesting solutions to the problems my work-group will sometimes

Comments

[ceelove]

I agree, it would be wrong to step in.

It would not, in my estimation, be wrong to say something like, "It looks like you're going through something rough. I'm not trying to make it my business, but I'm available if you feel like another friendly ear here would be helpful."

[elialshadowpine]

Trying to step in = bad idea.

If, however, this is someone that you're interested in getting to know better outside of work time (in a friends-type way), there's nothing wrong with, say, mentioning something you've got in common and asking if she'd like to get lunch or coffee sometime. If she'd like to do that, whatever's going on might come up in general conversation then, and at that point you could ask if there's anything you could do to help.

[omimouse]

I'd add that you should probably make it clear that this isn't a date, since that's pretty classic 'asking out on a date' language.

[elialshadowpine]

I was thinking ring on the finger would make that more clear, but that's probably still a good idea, yeah.

[tigerbright]

It could be a parent who died.

[azaz_al]

Maybe you could just ask if she wants to have coffee or lunch without mentioning the behavior or situation. Then it's totally up to her if she wants to open up about it, or just have a friendly lunch - or not.