In what starts as a conversation about how nice is too nice for employer-provided coffee, a Fortune columnist talks about the point at which HR gets a little too friendly.

Some employees experience management that is overly friendly, without ever breaking company policy in any specific way.

This is an important idea for HR to be aware of. Management exists to manage.

Communication styles and personality quirks which endanger the necessary distance that must exist between manager and managee will keep HR from being effective.