It may be slightly embarrassing, but most of us have done this at work.  And there are four things that make us do it.  

Most of us have cried at work.  And sometimes it's the ugly cry.

I've done the ugly, red puffy-eyed cry, and I can't even remember now what prompted it.  I just remember uncontrollable tears shooting down my cheeks and my boss at the time seemed a little surprised, but said, "I just think you're going through a lot right now."  He might have thought I was a complete lunatic and wanted to run for the hills, but he acted as if he understood and I appreciated that.  It was before I had kids and it was during the time that we were trying and not having success, and work stress complicated my emotions.  I'm sure the tears had something to do with that.  Or maybe someone took the last pod designated for the break room coffee pot, it's hard to say.

A new survey from Monster.com said 83% of people have cried at work. And there were four reasons behind the tears.

-- 45.4% said they were crying because of a supervisor or a co-worker

-- 18.5% said they were crying over personal matters

-- 15.7% said they were crying over workload

-- 12.8% said they were being bullied in the workplace

We spend the majority of our days at work, and if our emotions happen to be in turmoil there are few opportunities outside of those long hours to sneak in a good cry.  So our co-workers are the lucky ones that get to experience the emotional tide with us.  And when we see someone in the next car crying at a stoplight, it's probably because they held it in all day at work and finally got to let it out.

I listened to an inspirational speaker the other day while I was on the treadmill, and she said her company has hired a "conflict resolution specialist" to help everyone get along.  I'm sure that person has helped a lot of people work through tears at work, and might have drawn some tears out while trying to resolve conflicts too.

Do you think less of someone who cries at work?  Perhaps it boils down to the number of times it happens.  Daily crying at work may not be the best approach if you want to rise through the ranks, but if it's rare and there's a good reason for it, maybe it's acceptable.

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