by Stacy Jackson

Created on: July 27, 2007   Last Updated: October 19, 2008

Crying on the job can definitely be a negative and lower your standing in the eyes of your employees, colleagues, and management. If you cry over constructive criticism, you will never be open to learning about the ways you can improve. If the rumor mill is churning about you and you cry, you will demonstrate - whether accurate or not - that you don't have the thick skin required for management. If you cry when you deal with a difficult customer, then you will risk getting a reprimand (assuming the customer wasn't totally out of control during the episode).

You shouldn't cry at work . . . generally speaking. I do, however, think there are times when it is most appropriate. After all, during the course of the five-day work week, there are 120 hours of living. Those hours can roughly be divided into 40 sleeping (assuming eight hours per night), and 80 waking hours. Half or more of our waking hours during Monday through Friday are spent at work. There are 112 waking hours in a seven-day week, and we spend at least 35% of that time at work if we work full time. In your whole adult lifetime, I can't imagine that there was not a good reason to cry at work when you look at how much living goes on during those hours.

The human drama unfolds daily whether we are at work or not. People get sick. Relatives and friends die. We lose clients. People get fired. The point is this: if you cry at work, make sure it's over something meaningful.

There have been several times that I and others have cried at my place of business. Granted, it's a small company of less than 100 employees. Most of us have been there for more than five years, and we are very close. But, we remain professional and understand that tears happen at times such as . . .

. . . when I told my manager and coworkers that I had cancer. . . . when we sat, horror-struck, listening to the events of 9/11 unfold. . . . when a coworker's daughter was killed in a car accident. . . . when the company lost a big account. . . . when long-time employees left the company. We weren't being cry-babies, we were being human.

While I understand how important it is not to do anything to jeopardize your professional image - like crying over criticism, rumors, and customer rudeness - it's important to show your employer and employees that you are human and that you accept those around you as sentient beings, too. We all have our off days . . . next time you see a coworker crying, off them a tissue and lend them an ear. There may be more going on than you realize.

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