Survivor guilt
What do you say when you're trying to comfort someone who is in tears before you after being made redundant when she looks up and asks "Why do you still have a job and I don't? What do you have that I don't?"
Words failed me.
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Ick.
It's not a question one can answer: which is why it's a question that's, frankly, impolite to ask.
Not a very sympathetic position, I know, but the only possible outcome of asking is to make you feel bad: so don't ask, already.
I think Jonathan is right - it's every Brit's privilege and inalienable right to go through a day without encountering Public Displays of Emotion - it's just Not British. On the other hand, if one is that upset, indisputably Mark is the choice of shoulder on which to cry which, I suspect, is why you got the question, Mark. Sorry, it's just the downside of being a Very Nice Man Indeed.
O-my. I hope she is doing better. As for you, how quiet is it at work now? Are there tumbleweeds blowing past your desk?