At some point in your life, you'd probably have broken down and cried your eyes out Whether it was a good cry, a sad cry or a bad cry. Sometimes, it's so unavoidable that you literally cried on your desk.
Bo Olson, a book marketer, tells of one time he saw employees in Amazon shedding tears. "Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk," says Olson. He was talking about the Amazon white-collar culture environment that headlined the news last year, according to NewYorkTimes.
However, TampaBay explains that there is no shame in crying at work. Whatever your reasons may be, some office workers and company employees have cried once or twice. The TampaBay article talks about their crying experiences during a depressing moment, when stressed at work, when disappointed about losing out on a promotion. Some people cry during meetings with their bosses or when venting out with a co-worker.
Crying is part of everyday life. An interest article in Atlantic, titled "Lean In to Crying At Work," talks about the stigma against crying at work. Crying at work is deemed to be sexist. Olga Khazan explains that it's pointed towards women, more than with men. Khazan makes the compelling argument that crying ought to be normalized at the office. "Not unlike other unpleasant things, crying happens," she says. "Men shouldn't reap the unfair advantage of a mid-meeting misting, and women shouldn't worry that on top of their own embarrassment, they're being judged as manipulative and incompetent."
Emotions are valid. Whether or not your crying co-worker wants to talk, never make assumptions about his or her emotional stability. Some people just want to be heard. It may be awkward down the road but if the result is a workplace that's fairer for women and people who are, through no fault of their own, physiologically predisposed to crying, a little awkwardness seems like a reasonable price to pay.
