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Pro Tip: Don’t ask your colleague about his dead dog in the middle of a live basketball broadcast
A lot has been made in recent years about the ever-tightening window of acceptable office behavior, but the reality is it's all common sense. Don’t be a creep, don’t be an asshole, don’t take more than your share of Welch’s Fruit Snacks from the company kitchen, and dear God, whatever you do, don’t ask your colleague about his dead dog in the middle of a live college basketball broadcast.
Absolutely excruciating. If that “thanks for asking” from Tom Hart doesn’t cleave your soul clean in half, chances are you never had one in the first place.
But the real story is just what the hell Peter Burns was thinking here. Maybe an equally clueless producer was in his ear being like, “Tom is a big dog guy, keep it natural.” Maybe he’s just trying to distract from the snoozefest that is unranked Ole Miss vs. unranked Florida on a random Tuesday night in the dead of January. But if you know your colleague loves his dog more than his kids and that that dog is reportedly 16 years old, you don’t go there, especially not live on air. For Christ’s sake, at least wait for the commercial break. Come on, Pete!
Hopefully Burns and Hart were able to smooth things out off air, where personal chit chat about aging pets that could pass at any moment is best kept. If Hart needs a few days to let these fresh wounds scab up, however, we wouldn’t blame him. While we wait, join us in pouring one out for Larry. Rest in power, old sport.