While in graduate school, a friend expressed her frustration with our major advisor. My friend’s dog had gotten loose and had a number of scrapes from running through the woods. She called the advisor to explain she needed to reschedule a meeting due to having to take her dog to the veterinarian. What upset my friend was the advisor’s response: “so you’re choosing to take care of your dog instead of making our meeting.” Now this was obviously not the empathic response one would hope...
