Tears for a clown

How to deal with crying at work. what to do if you need to cry at work. What will crying at work do to your career? It’s a surprisingly well-covered topic by sites as wide ranging as Fortune, Huffington Post, PopSugar and Time. 

It’s generally targeting women readers and never described as a good thing. 

In fact, per a 2016 The Atlantic article, “In her survey of 700 people, Anne Kreamer, author of It’s Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the New Workplace, found that in the past year, 41 percent of women admitted to crying at work, but only 9 percent of men did.”

I’d take a gander there’s no proud author writing about how to cry at work to get what you want. I haven’t yet come across a how-to, as in how to cry at work to get ahead. Or, how to nab that promotion with a proper meltdown. Or even, 5 ways crying at work will get you more money. 

Yet, somehow that’s a piece of advice I was given. Yes, a professional man gave a grown ass woman a tip to “cry if you want an office.” Because that might make it harder for the boss man to say no. 

I was no entry level  career gal when this bombshell was dropped on me. I might have been devastated if I was. He was no crusty old timer out of touch with today’s issues. 

I felt outrage. Anger. Surprise. I didn’t reply harshly enough. I didn’t report him to anyone. After clarifying with a shocked, what did you just say?! He explained his theory further, neither embarrassed nor apologetic. I gave a sarcastic retort and never looked at him nor spoke of or to him the same way again. I doubt he noticed. 

I could handle it, take it for the utter bullshit it was. It didn’t wreck me or impact my career in any way. But he was foolish. And wrong to say it. And I should have told him so. 

#womensupportingwomen