Just to show you that sexism and gender stereotyping is alive in the office, MSNBC online ran an article on how employees expect their female bosses to be sensitive, but they do not have the same expectations of their male supervisors.

(Syracuse University researcher Kristin) Byron surveyed managers and subordinates. Forty-four part-time MBA students with supervisory jobs and 78 hospitality managers rated the emotional state depicted in a series of photos showing facial expressions and postures, as well as audio clips with different tones of voice…

Female managers who were lousy at decoding unspoken emotions were seen as less caring and received lower satisfaction ratings from their staff.

Male leaders who were bad at spotting emotions were not subject to the same negative evaluations. Byron thinks this has to do with societal views of men's roles.

Byron said for the employees it was more important that male supervisors be analytical and logical, and the women bosses be seen as caretakers, or "office moms." She pointed out that the aloof men should learn from the sensitive women on how to read employees' emotions to determine if they are disgruntled or how to more effectively get them to finish a project.

In somewhat related news, reporter Lisa Kogan wrote an article for Oprah magazine on how it takes a village to raise a child. (Amen!) She responded -- in a witty manner -- to this nasty e-mail:

Here is a quirky cultural story out of Japan: There is a company named Japan Efficiency Headquarters that actually allows people to rent out actors to stand in for them during family events.

Let’s say your children have no grandparents. No problem. Just rent out an elderly couple for a playdate! Can’t visit mom in the hospital because of work? Simply hire an actor in your place.

The company was created in response to Japan’s workaholic culture, according to the trade publication Quality Digest Magazine.

Because of the overemphasis on the work quadrant in Japan, a firm called Japan Efficiency Headquarters rents out actors to visit the parents and children of people who are too busy with their careers to do it personally. The Tokyo-based organization charges $385 for a five-hour visit by one person, $769 for a couple, and $1,155 if the client also wants to rent a baby or child. For example, a 35-year-old Tokyo computer salesman sent a couple to visit his 64-year-old father who lived ten minutes away from him. "Our purpose is to fill a hole in the heart," says company president Satsuki Oiwa.

The International Herald Tribune weighed in with anecdotes of its own:

"I wanted to touch the skin of a baby once again," said a 75-year-old grandmother. "My own grandchildren have already grown up." So she and her 79-year-old husband rented a couple and a child for an afternoon. "I had no feeling they were strangers," she said.

A couple in their mid-20s with a two-year-old son rented an older pair of stand-ins to play their child's grandparents, who live far away and are too old and feeble to visit.

I wasn’t surprised by this trend story. The Japanese don’t seem bothered to have robots, for example, take the place of human caretakers. Some years ago, I remember writing about Wakamaru, a robot that would take care of the aging Japanese. Because young people are not having children, there is a healthcare crisis in Japan in that there aren’t enough caretakers for the elderly.

Back then I was creeped out by the notion of robots taking the place of people. But one of Wakamaru’s creators had some harsh words for me:

"Obviously, if this completely replaces human companionship, that would be sad," Tilton added. "But maybe that is a step up from television that keeps a lot of Americans company."

Ooh, ouch! We are an isolated culture and I know we live to work, too. But I hope we never get to the point of having to rely on these services.