Inadvertent jabs cut most deeply

So today was pretty great, but I did have a kind of unfortunate memory. At work there was an email that I receive every month about company policy updates. I generally scan through them since most of it applies to the clinical folks and not software folks, but this caught my eye since it mentioned the dress policy.

 

My memory was sparked by the mention that outerwear, with the company logo, given out in the past was no longer allowed in the clinical setting. This reminded me of a very nice Cutter & Buck parka in pristine condition that hangs in the back of my closet.

 

Shortly after I became a manager I received an email about a management retreat. With the email was a request to respond with some information including jacket size from a list of options that went all the way up to 1X (technically a size larger than X-Large for you little folks out there). I replied simply that they needn't include me in that, but my boss's boss's boss was A) very thoughtful and B) kind of a big guy himself (I assume they included 1X because that was his size.

 

At the end of the retreat, this man called everyone up individually to give them a personalized jacket with the logo and shake hands and thank them for their efforts. I did not expect my name, but sure enough at the very end he got to 'Z' and called me up. I wasn't sure if he knew there wasn't a jacket so I hesitated a moment to give him a chance to discover for himself that there was no jacket, but to my surprise he reached into the box and pulled a jacket a bit different than the others. The others had been simple wind breakers but this was a kind of high-end jacket and was visibly a little different.

 

When I got up there he leaned in and said in a low voice, "I figured you didn't provide a size because you needed one a little bigger, don't worry, this one is plenty big." A thoughtful gesture from a man who clearly cared enough to take the time to ascertain my situation, correctly guess my dilemma and solve the problem.

 

I never did tell him, that when he sat down to decide just how big I really was, and went with, "plenty big" he had chosen a jacket that was two sizes to small. I even wore it a couple of times to work even though the sides were six inches apart when the material was stretched to its limit. It really is a nice jacket, and who knows? Maybe I will get to wear it someday soon.