Sometimes a person standing outside the window, so to speak, has a perspective to give that is helpful and to the point. Most of the time, though, it's been my experience that the person directly involved has a view that has her/him already halfway there. For instance, your colleague's sibling, no doubt, has a long history with her/him so whatever choices that person makes won't be out of the blue. Not to mention, presumably your colleague's father is also the father of the sibling. Who knows all the permutations at work.


I do agree with you, VT, however: seeing and hearing all these goings on can be infuriating.