Is it normal that my boss keeps apologizing to me?

Mmmm. Tricky waters, this.

It sounds from what you report that he may have a crush on you. Keep your eyes and wits about you and just be professional with him. Any inappropriate behavior – if you feel he’s crossed a line – should be nipped in the bud or reported if necessary.

It could be a bit of a crush, but it could be pure loneliness. Being a boss can be very isolating sometimes. He may feel you are more his type of person to know, than are the other employees. He may just want a sympathetic pair of eyes and ears he can count on having around work.
Find an opportunity to just talk for a minute or two, and see if you can get a read on his behavior then.

I had a boss like that once. It wasn’t that he was hitting on me. He was prior service and my husband was in the military so I felt like he thought, I had a better understanding of the way he was and he was right. He seemed very unapproachable on the outside but what I saw was someone who simply liked keeping work professional, but he was lonely. Everyone seemed intimidated by him except for me.

I found when we closed up for the evening and all our work was done, he would let down his guard a little. As our friendship grew he would come out of his office more to say an occasional word to me and he felt comfortable asking me to do things because I would do it without question. Everyone else had a bit of an attitude or looked like he was going to fire them on the spot.

I even did something that no one else has ever done. Instruct him on procedures we would do, step by step so he would know whether he ever had an employee try to pull a fast on him. He was a bank manager but he didn’t know everything that clerks did and didn’t realize how someone could set him up. He would act around me like a kid who finally got asked first to join a team by one of the cool kids.

I always had a weak spot for the outcast types. I’m not super social myself but I hate it when I feel someone is being ostracized.

Are you normally nicer to people who seem lonely?

@Pandora I don’t think he is lonely. Everyone gets along with him. Lately he lookd at mw with sadness in his eyes. But he laughs and talk freely with the other employees. He had been this way with me since we met. I have only been working for him for a few weeks.

The “sad look” makes me wonder if you remind him of someone he has lost that he cared about. A daughter, a sister or a friend.

@tedibear He never looked at me that way before until I asked him a favor.

You know what they say. Last one hired is first one fired. Maybe he knows he will have to let you go soon and he feels sad about that because he likes you but either you aren’t working out, or the position was always meant to be temporary.

@Pandora you’re way off.First off, I’m not the last one hired. His sad face was just momentary. He has increased my hours. Its notva temp. Position, and he asked me today to help train people. I notice that I have been given the lead work lately. I am the one on the front. And everyone wants me there. He bends over backwards since day one for me.