I was about to tell you that I never cry at work — but I would be lying, yo.
The first time I remember crying at work was 1991. I was just a kid and I worked at Here’s Hollywood Video in Palatine, IL. I overheard an assistant manager call me Sinead behind my back. I later confronted the chump. He was thirty, divorced, and going places in his career.
Even then, I was assessing talent.
So I asked, “Did you call me Sinead?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Everyone calls you Sinead.”
I said, “Not to my face, they don’t.”
He said, “Of course not. But you do have a shaved head.”
He turned and walked away. Conversation was over.
- I cried because some loser thought he could be witty and clever at my expense.
- I cried because I thought he didn’t like me and I’ve always had a sad, pathetic desire to be liked.
- I cried because this guy drove a busted-up Iroc-Z, for chrissake. Google it, kids. That’s a sad car — and it’s even sadder when it’s held together by bungee cords.
I also cried because that job sucked. Hard.
How about you? When was the first time you cried at work? When was the last time? Why?
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My emotional reaction to work events is to get angry. Rather than react in a career limiting way, I find some time to just go for a walk and clear my head. The first time I can recall crying at work was when my wife called to tell me about her aunt being diagnosed with cervical cancer. She remains cancer free 10+ years later and is now enjoying being a grandma!!! The last time was earlier this year when I learned that a fellow coworker and dear friend was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Are we talking about crying at work because of work or a co-worker or crying at work because your life sucks?
My husband left me in August and until three weeks ago I cried at least once a day at work. I mean, I was weeping, snotty quivering piles of goo on a daily basis (luckily my co workers and my boss are cool and left me alone).
Crying because of generally shittiness of work? 2005 when a young client of mine was found shot to death in a National Park (I worked with abused women back then, she was not the first and not the last to die, but it hit me harder because I was trying to help her get her high school diploma and she had a 18 month old daughter).
Yea, sucked hard. So I quit and became a waitress so I didn’t have to deal with peoples lives other than what they felt like eating.
Somehow caught the eye of the Company VP and got sucked into the big bad world of HR. Sometimes it makes me long for the shelter again….what were we talking about?
I was nine months pregnant, my boss had been out of work 9 weeks recovering from surgery. The CEO called me into a meeting and wanted to discuss the health insurance budget for the upcoming year. Completely innoccuous conversation, him asking me finance questions and me trying to answer with a modicum of intelligence (I was only 23 at the time) and I burst out crying… IN FRONT OF HIM. I was as appalled as he was and excused myself immediately. My boss came back in 2 days later and I left for maternity leave a week early.
Normally, I’m the hardest working person wherever I work – I get great reviews, promotions, raises (well – raises are a thing of the past now). But, I try really hard. Many years ago, I took a job working as a secretary for a jerk at an investment bank. He behaved inappropriately most of the time and gave me tasks a monkey could do, like keeping all of his correspondence in binders – binders! So, I go in for my review and he tells me I’m doing a good job, but I just don’t look excited about my job. I burst out into tears. Here, I’m thinking at least I’ll get a major raise, promoted out of this hell-hole, and he’s disappointed that I’m not excited about binders. Binders! Yes, I felt like an idiot afterward, but that’s what months of hole-punching does to you.
PS – in her day, Sinead was gorgeous. I went for a crew cut in the 80′s and would have given anything to be compared to her. I bet you looked great.
When I was a teenaged bag of hormones I worked at McDonalds and one time, the LOVE OF MY LIFE told me that he DIDN’T LOVE ME LIKE I LOVED HIM (BUT SEX WAS FINE) and I spent my entire shift leaking all over the floors, cleaning the lobby with my head down so nobody could see me weeping fiercely into the mop bucket. Luckily, it was a slow day anyway.
I had a boss once who made me cry – my first “real” job as an admin assistant supporting two divisions made up of three supervisors, a manager and a staff of 24 scientists and engineers. I was totally overworked (most departments had far fewer people) and had unfortunately displayed some competency with computers and databases early on so they had me helping out the engineers with their reports and whatnot along with the usual letters and filing and supplier-wrangling. At the same time I was supporting the manager, a woman who thought I was there JUST for her: she had a printer directly outside her office but sent me her emails to print out for her because she was SO BUSY. Everything was five minutes ago – she was totally disorganized and made it impossible to prioritize.
One time she had a meeting with a large group and the Deputy Minister and needed this huge report photocopied right away – she was apparently too busy to tell me about it in advance (she didn’t even use her Outlook calendar, even though we had it, so.) It was 4:30 and I had classes to get to – but I photocopied it and brought it down to the meeting. Turns out there were some double-sided pages and I hadn’t done it double-sided… and I’d LEFT! I just WENT HOME! HOW COULD I? The next day she sat me down all concerned and closed the door asked if I was having “trouble” because my performance had been “suffering” and she was “concerned” that I wasn’t doing well. I managed not to cry until she left, but cry I did, tears of rage – she had no idea how much I actually did or how well I did it, and no idea how much more difficult she made my job every single day by being a horrible manager. Her “concerned” manner made me so mad, because if she was really concerned she’d have actually supported her overwhelmed unit instead of barricading herself inside her office and only noticing her staff when they embarrassed her.
Two weeks later my contract came up for renewal, and I refused to renew it – life was way too short, I’d find another job, I told them, thanks anyway. I loved my coworkers, but nothing could make me work for that woman. HR, bless their hearts, offered to give me a new boss if I’d stay, and transferred me to another unit down the hall. I feel a bit bad, though, because the admin they switched me with started to suddenly cry often in the bathroom herself and eventually left too…
I’ve never cried at work. However, when someone cries, it is my kryptonite. I have no idea what to say to someone when the start crying other than “hey, go on, walk it off” or “There is no crying in baseball”
1) Cried on and off for three days when my dog died.
2) Cried at work when my daughter went to Rehab.
The last time I cried at work was at the old place. Our CEO had “retired” and the new guy was making drastic changes. One of those changes was to put HR under IT, yeah I dont know. The new CEO and the IT guy both had issues with any woman with an opinion. I cried because I was mad, angry, and worried. IT dude was the worst manager/leader in the history of the word manager/leader. No respect for a woman, I know that because they had an outside HR consultant that I had replaced (his contract had been terminated when I took over HR) and any time something came up IT dudes first reaction was to call him. Never mind the fact that I told him the exact same thing for far less money. I seriously could rant about this for days. I’ll stop now.
First time I cried at work… technically, was the day I graduated from boot camp. The first time I cried in a professional setting was a day I got so incredibly PO’d at my boss, in the middle of the discussion I just burst into tears. I now know that when I am reaching that level of annoyance, its best to remove myself from the situation and come back calmer and able to continue the discussion. That facet of my personality has been know to win arguments, but its not really the way I like to do things!
I am a total mush bucket! I’ve never cried at work when was mad, angry, or fed up. I cry — or, really, leak — over the good stuff. Like last night. A colleague had been working up the courage to go to a vendor partner and negotiate tough on an issue that needed resolution. When I dropped by her cubicle last night to return something she’d left in my office, she was quite emotional. She’d just got off the phone and had achieved her goal of negotiating a substantial financial concession for our organization. When I saw her pride in her success, I couldn’t help it. I got all choked up and leaked a little bit. When I’m in front of the room at our monthly all employee meeting reviewing their accomplishments from the previous month and see what they deliver to our members during these challenging times sometimes I just can’t help it. I’m so proud of them and their impact that I get a quiver in my voice that telegraphs my emotions and have to take deep breaths. Just last month at the SHRM Strategy Conference, at which I was the MC, I had to go up to the stage and thank one of the keynote speakers (Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman of the Board of Carlson Companies) after a truly inspiring keynote address. As I went to the stage, personally moved by her comments, and saw that the entire audience was on their feet, I had to admit to the crowd that I was verklempt and had to take a couple of seconds to reach equilibrium. Not professional, I know. Probably not recommended for a leader to be that transparent. But it’s me and that’s what you get.
And P.S. I agree with Cowtowngirl. I’ll bet you looked way better than Sinead!
Laurie, to quote Sinead herself: fight the real enemy! (In this case, the mega-assy “manager” who is probably now parking cars at a strip club or something.)
Thanks for talking about the human part of human resources.
The last time I cried at work was 7am on a Monday morning when I had worked all weekend preparing severance/layoff packages for 15 people. I was reviewing my script for the meetings I would be spending the rest of my attending and an email came across with the “next” list of terminated positions, which included mine, that was mistakenly sent to me.
Let’s see, I cried because;
1) I was angry
2) I was exhausted
3) I felt betrayed
4) I was scared
5) I couldn’t stop & take a walk because I had to stop thinking about myself and take care of 15 people, most of who I had worked with for 10 years and that day they wouldn’t know that I really did know exactly how they felt.
I would pay good money to see Laurie from back then.
And I know exactly where that Here’s Hollywood was. I believe it’s now parking lot for the Home Depot.
Trish, I keep waiting for some shit like that to happen to me any day now…I feel your pain sister. Hang in there!
Never because of work, but I’ve cried at (sort of) work because of other stuff. The last (and, I think, only) time was in grad school when I was TAing and I was a) broke; b) working 2 jobs while in school to keep myself afloat and was about to lose one (which I actually loved) because the store was going out of business; c) worried about failing due to a major set-back to my thesis; d) had just been dumped by a girl I was absolutely crazy about…and we still lived together (don’t date your housemates)…and she kept bringing guys over to the house.
So yeah. Every time I stopped actively working long enough to think about anything, I’d start leaking – I had a class that day, so I kept having to think of things I could write on the blackboard so I could turn away from my students long enough to get myself back together.
I cry at work. Rarely about myself, but about other people, particularly something that brings out the mama bear in me? Hell yeah. I try to do it behind closed doors. It seems to make most men incredibly uncomfortable, so I feel pretty radioactive until I can put on that work mask again.
A few years ago, something happened – and I felt so frustrated, unheard, powerless to help – that I went out to my car and cried so hard that I burst a blood vessel in my eye. Twenty minutes later I walked into the building and straight into a meeting. I just acted like I didn’t know what anyone was talking about when they expressed concern about my crazy red blotchy face and halloween eyeball. What was I supposed to say?
In reality, I’m kind of okay with it, I’d rather be seen as empathetic than professional most of the time.
It almost never bothers me when someone else cries in a meeting, unless it seems like they’re doing it to get out of hearing something they don’t want to hear. (i.e. a discipline meeting.)
Cried when my mother died… and I think when a couple good friends died from overdoses. You can see it coming– but nothing prepares you for when it actually happens. Nothing a coworker or manager has ever done has made me want to cry– Kick thier fuckin’ ass maybe?? yes! Cry? no.
And Sinead was and still is Hot— everyone wanted to be her! …and I can see you bald, no prob. You should have torn a picture of this manager in front of him and the crew!! LOL
One of my favorite movies is Broadcast News with Holly Hunter (rent it, it’s really funny). She plays a no-nonsense, stressed out TV news producer who intentionally cries every morning to get it out of her system. I remember crying only once at work — I had to fire someone, got blasted because my recruiting team wasn’t performing well, and had a candidate in the lobby with no interviews scheduled. So I went to my car and cried. Then I blew my nose, straightened my skirt, touched up the lip gloss, marched back in and did what I had to do. Very Holly Hunterish. Also, I learned the spray-the-perfume-then-walk-into-it method of perfume application from this movie.
I cry at work an average of once a year. It’s odd. I never quite know what will set it off but it’s clear that it’s a build up of typical work-related frustrations and stress. I bust out in tears, take myself to a non-public place, sob for a few minutes, pull myself together and then go back to loving my job. I told you, odd.
I cry about once a year as well and today was my day (ironically). For me, it’s more of a frustration thing- can’t change it, overwhlemed by the 100 other things I should be doing besides the frustrating thing.
Example. After being on the phone for an hour with a support team this morning they basically told me “no you can’t do that.” I missed 2 other meetings to sit on this phone. Ridiculous. Love the post though- thank you!
I haven’t every cried at work because of work, but when I was in a panel interview for a position at a college, the gal who would become my co-worker started crying. At first I thought she had the sniffles, but once I was able to look in her direction, I realized it was full-on tears. Frick! Just ignored it at the time, but talk about weird. I got the job, and then found out this was going to be a twice daily event because she was most of the way through a bad divorce. It turns out in the interview, when asked how I deal with stress at work, and I replied that my husband is kind enough to listen to me vent – she got upset since sho no longer had someone to vent to.
Wow, that’s a great question. Too many times is my answer! Here’s the short version:
1. When my dad died
2. When my boss who hated me ended an awesome, proactive program in which she did not see the value. (I should have been fired for this one.)
3. When my boss who hated me gave me my performance reviews because she loved to point out how awful I was over and over, year after year.
4. When I had to deliver layoff news.
2. When my outsourced benefits partners all failed at the same time during open enrollment this year.
Yep, I’m a mess.
First time? Can’t remember, because I have a lot of years of working under my “belt”. I will go with the time I told my boss I was pregnant, and his response was, “well, don’t expect me to congratulate you. And don’t expect to still have a job after you have your baby. This is not a good time for you to be out.” (yep, he said that.) So, I showed him …. I quit. (quitting while pissed only feels good for about 2 hours. Then it just feels stupid)
Last time? well, I’ve had a weepy year personally — all good stuff, but weepy nonetheless (new grandson, son got married, etc. etc.) but the last time for work-related reasons was when a EVP SCREAMED at me because his wife had surgery scheduled and our new insurance cards had not yet come in. Like I could just pull a freaking insurance card out of my, um, ear. In order to avoid having him see me cry (I cry when I’m really pissed) I went into my office, quietly shut and locked the door, and cried. A few minutes later he came tapping at the door and apologized and said, (through the door, I wouldn’t open it) “I wasn’t yelling at you, I was mad at the situation”. And I snatched open the door, and said, to a man who could have easily had me fired, “Let’s get one thing straight. You were yelling AT me, no matter who or what you were mad at. I am 40-some-odd years old. I will NOT be screamed at, at work, by you or anyone else. Got it?” And, since that day, we have had a fabulous relationship.
The times I’ve cried at work:
- While in high school I worked at Old Country Buffet as the dessert girl. One night while at work, I had a terrible pain in my stomach, so terrible I started crying. My manager came over and I told him I needed to go. He told me if I walked off the floor I would be fired. I continued working, crying, while putting out the bread pudding and molten chocolate cake. An hour later after, still crying, my dad came to pick me up. Turns out, I had a cyst burst in my ovaries. My dad yelled at the manager, put me in the car, quit for me, and hauled me off to the ER. To this day OCB gives me stomach pain.
-5 years ago I had come to find out my (ex) husband was having an affair, while at work. I called and confronted him about it, he some-what confessed. I yelled, cried, and was generally devastated. My boss (who is awesome and my mentor to this day), gently escorted me out the door to a waiting cab who took me home.
Generally speaking, I try not to cry while at work. Working in a male-dominated industry, I do whatever I can not to look vulnerable (aka: human).
i cried today….hysterically.
we have not been given raises in 2 years. a coworker gave notice, and then said the job “fell through”
today i was told she got a promotion and i would be reporting to her.
i cant stand her.
I only cried once – in 1993. I was working at this hick newspaper in Iowa and I worked with really really mean people. I had a total melt down – lol! Never happened again, because I never worked with assholes like that again.
when this hit my blog subscription today, i thought for sure i was going to find some admonition from you to all those who cry at work. i’m ok when someone’s crying because they were just fired or have something messed up going on with the family; however, when its nothing but good old fashioned workplace conflict that’s behind the flood gates, I HATE IT. nothing at work, with colleagues, etc. is important enough….nothing….to cry over. and by the way, sometimes people use it to their advantage during conflict (i.e. they know people like HR Pufnstuf will freeze). I hate that too and that’s when I call them a ‘crybaby’ and throw them out of my office. that’s called HR the tough love way.
Did you just call us “kids”, after the post about being called “kiddo”?!
The last time I cried at work was when my former boss asked me to find the plans for the new warehouse he was building. He said if I couldn’t find them in the office to call his son because he had them. Searched the office, no luck. Called the son, he said he had never had nor seen them. Told the boss as much. His reply to me was, “Well, someone is lying here, and it’s not my son,” then stormed off. Turns out, the plans had never been delivered at all. I cried so I wouldn’t go ballistic on him.
@HRMark I can see why you’d cry — but that’s good news on being cancer-free. Yeah! F U CANCER!
@HRU Holy crap, I’m so sorry to hear about your personal situation. Cry, hit something, punch a wall, or get a voodoo doll.
@teresa Aw, go easy on yourself. That’s a high-stress situation — pregnant or not!
@cow BINDERS! I want to shove those binders up his ass. PS – Thanks. I looked goofy. I was a girl in need of some serious TLC. Aren’t all wannabepunkrockgirls like that?
@Renee Whoa, you are loaded with stories. These are blog posts, you know. You should write.
@Puf That’s how I am when someone pukes in front of me. You can fake-puke and it makes me gag, too.
@JohnC I don’t blame you for crying. Shoot.
@adowling F U old place. God I hate that place.
@tlcolson I can totally relate. Ugh.
@China Probably not recommended for a leader to be that transparent. But it’s me and that’s what you get. What? That’s the best kind of leader. Honesty and transparency are the new currency in our economy.
@Patrick Nothing compares 2 u.
@Trish Oh sistah, I know that script and that feeling. You had every right to cry.
@Andy Nope, it’s a blockbuster video. That Laurie was not a winner. She was a young girl with some probs, yo.
@Ian OMG, that is a sad country song. I’m sorry. I hope you haven’t cried since!
@FrannyO I have never cried that hard. Wow. Those are some tears.
@MattyMat I think she ripped the pope picture a few years later. Now I’m not sure. I had dyed my hair black, then bleached it, then dyed it red. It was fried. So I rocked a very short crew cut and slowly let portions grow back. I had a weird fro, flat pieces, etc. Looked so ridiculous. Just a sad mess.
@Peopleshark Amazing amazing amazing movie. Shoot, I can’t recommend that movie enough. Good call.
@Caroline Not odd at all. I think that sounds healthy!
@Katrina Oh no! No more tears for 365 days!
@Lisa Oh sad.
@Bonita You are not a mess. HR brings me to tears.
@Susanne Whoa, that comment made me cry. The good stuff. We all deserve good news!
@Ida Oh man, you just made me cry with your comment. Heartbreaking.
@kate OH SHIT. F U COWORKER. I’m crying for you, too.
@GenX Iowa has that impact on people.
@Charlie Whoa you are such a dick. (Just kidding.) But really, we’re human. People cry. What’s the big deal? If you need to cry in order to get your job done, turn on the waterworks.
@Whitney Hahahahahahaha, I was just being silly. Good catch, though. I was trying to write with some pizazz.
The first (and possibly the last) time I ever cried at work was when I was in college and working at Sears. I was overwhelmed by customers and couldn’t find anyone to help me or answer a question. I don’t think I cried in front of the customers, but a few co-workers saw me.
@Laurie yeah– hair maintenance is a pain in the ass. And you have to have a decent look or you just look like a poser loser. Remember mousse?? LOL do they use that anymore???
New insurance coverage didn’t cover my meds, which I discovered would cost over $200/month. I was broke, since my job was a “volunteer” position, so I just didn’t take them. Apparently, if you just stop taking meds for depression, you can become a total basketcase. Who knew?
My boss and I worked it out…after I’d sent a “borderline verbally abusive” email to the people who manage our healthcare.
@AverageJane I worked at Montgomery Wards for six weeks and I cried almost daily.
@MattyMat OMG, I used mousse to add volume to my hair when it was longer.
@econpete Sometimes you have to be borderline verbally abusive to get stuff done when it comes to healthcare.
When I was 17 and 18 I worked at a daycamp for kids during the summer. I was an ASL/English interpreter for four deaf children. The other interpreter was really super mean to me all the time for no apparent reason. Finally, one day I asked her why. She said, “I’m not here to make friends.” I burst into tears and walked away. Later (we went to the same college) I found out that she was that mean to everyone and she had major, untreated mental health issues.
The last time I cried at work was when I broke up with my BF. I sat underneath my desk in my locked office and bawled.
GOOD TIMES!
If I cry at work it would be caused by my employees spiking my soda pop with estrogen. Just punch me in the boobs and tell me to suck it up!
Franny O- I recently cried so hard I could not breathe out of my nose and when I opened my mouth to breathe I puked! Luckily it was not at work.
I was going to post that I’ve never cried at work, because I honestly couldn’t remember a time I’ve cried in front of anyone but my very very very best friends, and even then they are shocked. (BTW, on the MBTI, i’m a clear Thinker…shocking, I know). If I cry, it’s at home after I process all that has happened, and then I cry alone. I handle emotions best alone, or with my boy. But I remembered one time that I definitely cried at work and one person was present. It was my first professional recruiting job, and it was a great company. I believed in every single person I hired and loved hiring young high potentials. I took great pride in knowing I could be giving some young people their first foot in the door of their professional career. Then, the refinance boom ended, and my company had to lay off nearly ALL of the new hires. I remember sitting in my office with my co-worker (the other recruiter) watching our recruits be gathered together in a conference room to learn about the layoff. I watched them file out of the conference room and watched as they made eye contact with me. Some just looked sad, but the few that looked angry/hurt really hit me. when I told them what a great company it was, i was telling the truth, but all they saw were lies. All they could see was the reality of being laid off. I wanted to close my office door and hide, but I decided to stay at the front door and apologize to each one and offer my help networking for a new job. And after they all left, my coworker and I shut the door and had a moment. Those are the only work tears I can think of.
the first time: I was working as a programmer consultant, but had a contract stipulating that I would work a full two years or owe the company $20K (for the training they provided to me). I was working in a position I really enjoyed about 10 minutes from home. One day my account manager told me that I would have to take a crappy position 90 minutes away or be fired for refusing and owe them the pro rated amount of the $20K. I cried because I already put in almost two years and really felt like I was being taken advantage of (I knew there were people stilling at home NOT working on a contract and getting paid and NOT having to pay back any of the $20K).
the second and last time: my boss (a completely unsupportive bitch) told me I was being demoted. She cited ZERO valid reasons. I cried because I loved my job and worked really hard to get there. I even moved to a new city for that job! Turns out that my replacement was a close friend of hers. Two days later I had a new job and about 6 months later, they were both fired. Karma can be a bitch, too, huh?
yesterday.
“Nothing compares…nothing compares 2 u…”
God, I don’t clearly remember the first, but the last time I remember crying at work about work was when I worked for a marketing communications firm back in the late 90′s. I was completely miserable in my job, completely miserable as a manager, completely miserable in my marriage turned separation turned (eventually) divorce, just completely miserable – and one long commute home from San Jose to Santa Cruz I cried the whole way.
I remember an old manager I had when I worked at a university who told me the day you cry over work is the day you start looking to leave.
It was shortly thereafter I jumped with arms wide open into the HR marketplace.
What the hell I was thinking?
The last time I cried wasn’t long ago at all. I could just kick myself too, because I’d managed to remain tear-free through a couple of harrowing episodes, at least while others were with me, anyway. So, this is good, check it out: I was taken out for breakfast on Boss’s Day (Oct. 16) by a couple of the “higher ups.” Being a boss, I thought maybe I might be getting some kudos on boss’s day, right? or at the very least not sh*t on on Boss’s Day (since Sh*t on the Boss Day is every other day of the year). But no, I basically got a dressing down (which is classic because I truly bust my butt for that place). Anyway, the thing is, my defenses were down because 1. it was an ambush meeting with no agenda (won’t make that mistake again); and 2. I was really sick (non-catchy sick) with an infection and shouldn’t have gone to work at all (but I had this breakfast meeting). So, yeah, I cried. And THEN I had to pay for breakfast with the company card. Nice one, higher ups! Thank you for ripping me a new one, can I buy you lunch, too? I’m sure this will increase my effectiveness and performance tenfold! ~polishing up the resume~
My dad had just died and I was back at work after spending two weeks at the hospice and then at the funeral. A co-worker expressed his condolences and I started to sob.
“Oh,” he apologized. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I reminded you and made you sad.” Right. Because I forgot my dad was dead until you mentioned it. Bless his heart. At least he acknowledged the event.
class factotum: that’s kinda funny-sad, sorry, and sorry for your loss…yes, at least he acknowledged the event…my grandmother died earlier this year and one of the 2 people who had the ambush breakfast with me (ranted about above) recently asked, “why does your grandmother’s death bother you so much?”…
these are the times you just want to respond to people by silently looking at them with your head titled and your eyes unfocused and glassy…in the way dogs do when they don’t understand…that’s what i want to do, anyway
I tear up frequently at work when I hear sad or hard things about peoples’ lives, and occasionally when someone’s mad at me and I don’t know how to fix it, but that last time I seriously cried was when a guy jumped off a very high bridge and landed right next to me 1/2 block from my office. Then I cried more when the Crisis Clinic came to talk about it with our company, many who had also witnessed it. After the meeting, they told me that our work culture didn’t sound like a culture that was comfortable with emotion. I cried even harder at that. No one really wants to cry at work, but as the HR leader, I don’t want robots coming to work. I want humans. We already had a relatively high trust factor, and we’ve been working on building even more trust since then. I think the workplace would be healthier if employees didn’t have to set aside their humaness at work, don’t you?
I’m too old to remember the FIRST time I cried at work. It could have been when I broke my hand at McDonalds.
And I cry so often, I can’t remember the LAST time I cried at work. It was probably when someone told me I had too many toys on my desk.
@Paul Ouch.
@Karina I dunno. I like robots. I’m pro-robot for most things.
@Jennifer I love that doggy look. I think we should do it more often. Gets the point across.
@Kevin You were obviously psychotic.
@GL Me too.
@t/p Sad karma stories. Why can’t we all just get along?
@Breanne Whoa, that was pretty brave for you to write. I’m impressed, yo.
@HRU Whoa, that’s an epic cry.
@Dave Can I punch you now?
@Jenn I’M NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0bOw1lqxBc
The first time I cried at work was when I worked at Video Outlet in Concord, CA and an old man totally ripped me because he had reserved Ghost and we didn’t have a copy. You know, because Ghost was a potentially life changing video and it was my 16-year old fault for not calling the a-hole who was 10 minutes late with his video. He yelled “I assume the movie will be here when I reserve it” and I said “well, you know what they say about people who assume” and he totally went medieval on me. That wasn’t the part that made me cry. I was okay until the lady behind him came up to check out and gave me some sympathy. Then I totally lost it.
The last time I cried at work, really boo-hoo cried, was when our vice president died. We’re a family-owned business and it was just really sad and really hard to come to work and be the shoulder others cried on without totally losing it with them. I walked into my boss’ office about three times a day until the memorial service and she and I would go through a box of kleenex. Then we’d open the door and be all stiff upper lip and stuff.
the first time i cried at work I was just wee-kid of 16, working at the McDonalds down the street. It was a hard job, I was a slow worker and got the nickname Molasses from the kitchen crew. I feel that lovely nickname made me realize i needed to move by A$$… so the tears came the first time I tried to work the drive thru window. Taking orders, taking money AT THE SAME TIME…it was super hard for me, and I got frustrated at the manager that was yelling in my ear to do it faster, so I buzzed at him and told him to stop effing yelling at me…i accidentally hit the wrong button, and the customer heard it…a teenage break down for the rest of the night happened…awful…
the last time was 5ish years ago when i worked as a manager for best buy and my ridiculous boss told me to sit down, shut up and that i didn’t have an opinion…that guy was a dbag…i quit shortly after that.
I was laid off in October 2008 and did not see it coming at all. I cried when the CEO told me because I really liked the company and the people that I worked with. I hugged him a few minutes later and told him that I knew it was a hard decision. He was truely sad to lay me off. When I went around and hugged everyone and said my goodbyes I cried even more, then cried in the car on the way home.