Why do people act that way?

OK, we all have unreasonable patients from time to time. But what I’m describing is behavior that’s not just aggressive and unpleasant but incomprehensible. Would you like to know why I call it incomprehensible?

Because Brendan has been coming in for axillary Botox injections every 6 months for 5 years! He knows the drill. He knows the staff. He’s always pleasant as punch. Just not today. Why? Who knows?

What’s true for patients can of course also be true for employees. Model workers, superb team players, reliable folks who show up in snowstorms, who come right back to work after major surgery, who deliver heartfelt speeches at holiday parties about their good luck in overcoming adversity to be able to work. Contributors who share their pleasant disposition and can-do energy year after year ...

Until one day that they don’t show up, send a text to say they quit, no warning or explanation, then apply for Workmen’s Compensation, and at the magistrate’s hearing to which they’ve dragged my staff and our HR attorney, lie right to the face of the manager who was their best friend and confidante until the day before yesterday.