It seems easier to empathize with someone who is harassed, assaulted, or fired, than with the person on the other side. What happens if we empathize with the bully, with whom he fires, or with whom he yells at us and disrespects us? It is much more difficult. Can or should you empathize with "the bad guys"? The cinema, on occasion, has presented us with the bad guy as the hero. Thus we have seen George Clooney in Up in the Air fire people or thieves who are heroes in One Hundred Years of Forgiveness among others.
Many years ago, in an experiment with a nasty and badly educated waitress in a restaurant in the United States, we were able to see how those people who believed that they were doing it because they were going through a difficult situation left more tips than those who knew nothing. Attributing legitimate reasons to a behavior allows us to get closer to the other and empathize. Any movie can show us a reason for the bad guy to behave like one (with the exception of psychopaths who do it just to get what they want without any regrets). To make it easier for us to empathize with the bad, sometimes, having information, with reasons is enough. If we do not count this information, it would suffice to attribute an explanation that justifies this behavior: "she had a bad day", "she is having a bad time", "her past is horrible", etc.
Empathizing with a murderer, a rapist or, for example, as has happened to more than one psychologist, with a child abuser is extremely difficult when we cannot attribute an explanation that justifies their behaviors.
What must always be clear is that empathizing does not imply sharing or agreeing with what the "bad guy" has done. It involves ACCOMPANYING and showing a connection to their emotions and reasons and only through that connection can we help the other to change. The answer to What happens if we empathize with the harasser, with whom he dismisses, or with whom he yells at us and disrespects us? It is that we establish a bridge where, in some cases, (not in all,) we help the other to change. The power of accompanying emotions is demonstrated. We must empathize with the bad guys (I insist, not share what they have done) because only then do we have the possibility of something changing. In customer service, the person who comes screaming and dissatisfied can only be helped from empathy by trying to understand what is happening to him, how he has reached that state and accompanying him in the process of putting a solution to what is happening.
Empathy with someone who suffers is relatively easy. Empathy with the one who causes that suffering is infinitely more difficult and yet necessary. Hence why it is so difficult to forgive and yet so necessary.