Management training, he thought: Ask if you may assist the employee in some manner. Let them know that you are a partner and that you are there to help them. She smiled her fake smile. He reflected it back with one of his own.

"Man, I hope it wasn't you who changed the lead paragraph in my story last night, Deirdre," Nick said and then laid-didn't toss, but laid-the front page of the section down in front of her. In retrospect, it wasn't the best way to start. But he was proud of himself for the not-tossing part.

She picked up the paper as if she didn't know which story he was talking about and pretended to read it for a few seconds.

"Well, first of all, it was a great story, Nick. And it got lots of raves in the morning editors' meeting," she said from behind the page. "We all really liked that detail you put in about the number of cigarette butts in his ashtray by the BarcaLounger. You've got such a great eye, Nick."

More management training. If possible, compliment the employee on a task well done before addressing problems with job performance.

"But yes, I did do some tinkering. I thought you missed a major point, which you mentioned much deeper in the story, about this guy's military past," she said, looking into his face with that cardboard smile. "I thought it belonged in the lead."

Nick took a breath and looked at the bulletin board behind her desk and then quoted from memory the deadline story he'd filed the night before:

" 'Despondent over the loss of his job as a longtime city park manager, a Dania man killed his wife and two teenage children Wednesday and then patiently waited, chain-smoking cigarettes, until police arrived before firing a shotgun under his own chin, authorities said.' "