Why it sucks to work in HR

HR can be a real shitty job. For two days now I have known that on Monday we are canning a guy who has worked here 14 years. His attendance is terrible, and in the long run for the company it is for the best, but on a personal level it sucks. His wife works here too and she is my friend. Of course I'd like to call her and warn them but I can't. Not only do I know about this but I also had to call the police dept this morning to arrange a police escort for him. I feel like vomiting.

A word of advise for people considering HR work - don't make friends with the people you work with, you may have to fire them tommorrow. I had to witness a good friend of mine get fired a couple years ago - it was one of the worst things I've had to experience. 10 minutes before the meeting, she is sitting in my office, asking me if she was getting fired. What am I suppose to do? Say No and I have lied to my friend, say Yes and I blantantly have disregarded the "sanctity" for lack of better word, of my position, I will have broken my vows as an HR employee by telling her this beforehand and open myself up to being fired too. Then I had to sit there and watch her boss coldly detail the reason she was being let go, i sat back stunned by the fact that this normally nice man had turned into a stone wall, no emotions no feeling, I watched the tears form in her eyes, witnessed the emotions of heartbreak and anger and all I could do was express my sorrow with sympathetic, pathetic, sad eyes, waiting until they left to burst into tears myself...this is not a job for the faint of heart. Everytime it happens I tell myself I won't make friends with people here anymore, I'll just go in and do my job and go home. Easy to say, hard to do.

That was the first and the worst for me, I have seen other friends given the axe here, and it is painful everytime. Sometimes i agree with the company's reasoning - sometimes I don't. Eitherway it is hard to see someone's life turned upside down in a matter of minutes. I had to fire a receptionist last year, it was terrible. I wanted her gone, I couldn't stand to look at her annoying ass, but actually having to say those words - to have to look her in the eye and hand her final check over, was nauseating. The whole morning before hand I was in the bathroom with dry heaves. I knew she had turned down another job to work here, and I knew she was struggling financially. After I did it, she looked at me and said "What am I going to do now?" and started bawling. I was actually happy and relieved she was gone, but sad and a bit remorseful too.

So, this weekend I will be thinking, what will happen to my friend and her husband on Monday. What will happen to their lives now? Will she even talk to me after that? Will they lose their home? Will he get a better job? Will he be unemployed for the next year? I hope it turns out ok.