The saying goes, «A friend in need is a friend indeed,» and that’s a beautiful sentiment. Helping a friend is a wonderful way to show you care. There are a handful of people in my life that I’d drop absolutely everything to help, and I’m happy to do it because I know they’d do the same for me. It’s what friends are for. It also helps you generate deeper intimacy. You need to be vulnerable in front of your friends so that they feel open to being vulnerable with you. It’s the wonderful push and pull of human relationships. 

But call me crazy… companies are not part of that friendship matrix. It’s a nice idea to be able to help out a coworker, but that should be on a friend-to-friend basis, not because your boss told you to. That’s what was so infuriating about this Reddit story, where a company crossed the line in a big way.