workplace relationships and ethics

Ok, this post is not going to be a happy one. But, it needs to be written. I've owned businesses, and been self-employed, for a long time. I always got too close to my employees, make friends too quickly, and craved the kind of comradery that coworkers had. I almost always worked out badly. As a boss or manager, you can't have friends at work. You can be friendly, but you can never truly open up and be friends. This really also goes for coworkers, even if you're not the boss. Why? Lawyers and opportunistic people! It's that simple. The only reason you can't truly make friends at work is the unfortunate part of human nature that makes people try to get ahead by pulling other people down. So, you open up and tell an employee or coworker about your life. It will come back and bite you. They will either use it against you or tell someone else who will. This is truly unfortunate because of the countless hours you spend with the people at work. Most of your life is …