Do You Cry At Work?

Once when a customer tried to spit tobacco juice on my shoes I almost started to cry. What stopped me was that I was an inexperienced salesperson. I knew that if I fell apart that my career would be over. Another factor was that I wasn’t going to give that prune-faced red neck the satisfaction of making me cry. What about you?  Do you think it’s acceptable to cry at work?

I recently read about Anne Kreamer, the author of It’s Always Personal. She was a senior vice president at Nickelodeon and had just closed a major deal with Sony.  Her boss, Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom Inc., the parent company of Nickelodeon, telephoned her. Instead of congratulating her, he chewed her out because her deal didn’t raise Viacom’s stock.  

She fell apart and cried. That was 20 years ago and it still brings back raw emotions for her. Is it ever all right to cry at work?

My work was stressful, required travel and late hours. I loved my job. Then I found out that despite being one of the top salespeople, I was one of the lowest paid. After being the good girl for years, I finally spoke up.

Once when a customer tried to spit tobacco juice on my shoes I almost started to cry. What stopped me was that I was an inexperienced salesperson. I knew that if I fell apart that my career would be over. Another factor was that I wasn’t going to give that prune-faced red neck the satisfaction of making me cry. What about you?  Do you think it’s acceptable to cry at work?I recently read about Anne Kreamer, the author of It’s Always Personal. She was a senior vice president at Nickelodeon and had just closed a major deal with Sony.  Her boss, Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom Inc., the parent company of Nickelodeon, telephoned her. Instead of congratulating her, he chewed her out because her deal didn’t raise Viacom’s stock.  She fell apart and cried. That was 20 years ago and it still brings back raw emotions for her. Is it ever all right to cry at work? My work was stressful, required travel and late hours. I loved my job. Then I found out that despite being one of the top salespeople, I was one of the lowest paid. After being the good girl for years, I finally spoke up. I was to meet with my boss and the vice president of sales to make my case. What had put me so far behind was that I got caught in a company policy. If you get a lousy 1% raise, you’re stuck without any raises for 18 months. That’s what happened to me. I foolishly believed that I could argue my case against the rules of a large corporation. Despite my foolishness, I should have been treated respectfully. I wasn’t. When I said that I knew I was being underpaid, my boss said, "Well the only way to know what you’re worth is to go find another job."  That insult almost brought me to tears. It took every fiber of my being and again I held back the tears. Immediately after, I replied, "I can see this meeting is over." I left the room.

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Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling. She works with business and sales professionals who want to close more business and she is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. This article first appeared on AllBusiness.com.