I have never cried at work. At least never in front of anyone. In my first job out of school, however, within the period of 1 year I had three different people who worked for me come into my office and start bawling. And this was not because they had just learned that their dog had just died. I have not had anyone cry since. This may be because in my first job I managed about 25 low-paid people (most made less than $10 an hour).
#1. The first was a somewhat odd woman who was very good at what she did, but also somewhat unbalanced. I didn't give her a promotion, and she had a half hour mad-cry in my office.
#2 was an 18 year old girl who I really liked (no not in that way) but who made bad choices in her life sometimes. She ended up getting pregnant; and I'm not sure she even knew who the father was. About six months into the pregnancy, she comes into my office, and starts crying because she thinks I don't approve of her.
#3 is my favorite, and was definitely the most uncomfortable. I had this big, weightlifter who worked for me. He comes into my office one day and asks if he can talk. It went something like this. "I just wanted to talk to you because (sniff) . . because (bigger sniff) . . . sometimes I feel (long pause) (bigger sniff) that you (sniffs turn into full our bawling) don't like me at all". This was kind of hard, because I didn't really like him that much, but I didn't think admitting it would help matters. I had suspected before that he took steroids, and this confrontation did nothing to ease my suspicions.
So did I get very unlucky in the first year I worked, or have I been very lucky in the last 14 years to not have any repeats of this?
#1. The first was a somewhat odd woman who was very good at what she did, but also somewhat unbalanced. I didn't give her a promotion, and she had a half hour mad-cry in my office.
#2 was an 18 year old girl who I really liked (no not in that way) but who made bad choices in her life sometimes. She ended up getting pregnant; and I'm not sure she even knew who the father was. About six months into the pregnancy, she comes into my office, and starts crying because she thinks I don't approve of her.
#3 is my favorite, and was definitely the most uncomfortable. I had this big, weightlifter who worked for me. He comes into my office one day and asks if he can talk. It went something like this. "I just wanted to talk to you because (sniff) . . because (bigger sniff) . . . sometimes I feel (long pause) (bigger sniff) that you (sniffs turn into full our bawling) don't like me at all". This was kind of hard, because I didn't really like him that much, but I didn't think admitting it would help matters. I had suspected before that he took steroids, and this confrontation did nothing to ease my suspicions.
So did I get very unlucky in the first year I worked, or have I been very lucky in the last 14 years to not have any repeats of this?
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