CYA?

"Hey, Granola. I wanna run something by you." He said as he walked in my office, closed the door, and sat down in the chair across from me. What have I done? I wondered. "Someone told me that there may be some friction on the team and I was wondering if you had seen anything?"

"Huh?"

MyBoss went on to ask if I had noticed if there was friction between anybody and what was up. I said the only friction I had noticed is between two of the guys, and I think that they just delight in pulling pranks on each other, and I think it's perfectly harmless. We talked about that for a while, and how whom ever told him that there might be tension didn't really give him any helpful information, like names or actions, etc. After a bit he said, "And, are you feeling any tension or anything?"

"You mean because I'm a girl?"

Smile, "Uh, yeah."

"Nope. Everything's fine."

"Good. I wasn't really all that worried about you. You can hold your own with any of those guys."

"Yeah, but thanks for asking."

Then he left. The more I get to thinking about it, the more I wonder if he hadn't started the whole thing as a way to ask me if things were ok. I kind of want to tell him that while I appreciate his concern, I'm doing just fine. However, it's nice to know that he wants to insure that I feel completely comfortable. The nice thing is, because of his efforts I know that I can go to him with out fear of backlash. Yeah, that's nice.