Should You Play the Sympathy Card at Work?

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Playing the sympathy card CAN backfire.
And it can put your boss in a difficult position, and bosses don't like that.
And it's really not a permanent fix.
One time, many years ago, I had a job that didn't pay me enough to live on. So I found a night job. When my boss found out (I was open about moonlighting), she arranged overtime for me so I wouldn't have to waitress in the evenings.
However, this arrangement worked for only around six months. They couldn't justify the extra expense after a while.
So.......back to waitressing......

Working Girl of WA 4:47PM June 13, 2008

If you're privileged to be working somewhere for the real "boss man", that is, working directly for a company owner who CAN make a decision about your pay and a real value judgment about you, then you probably won't even need to ask.
You probably will get help just because you're so good and the boss isn't tone deaf to your needs amidst inflation.
If, though, your boss is a little cog in a great big budgetary gear in a large organization, sympathy is unlikely to be obtainable and playing that card might be something you regret.

Daniel David of NM 4:07PM June 13, 2008