No Boo Hoo in the Cube?

Thank God I'm self-employed, because I just read an article by Michele Himmelberg that says it's uncool to cry at work. During the year of my depression, that would have been like saying I wasn't allowed to pee at work. No, it would actually be worse. I cried every hour. I peed every other hour.

Linda Cowley, an executive assistant for a health-care insurance provider (a.k.a. Satan--I've shared my opinion of those crooks, no?) in Irvine, California offers three guiding queestions for evaluating the crying dilemma at work (not that you can control it...well, I never could anyway):

1. Do you know your supervisors and co-workers well enough to cry in front of them without negative repercussions? If the answer is no, excuse yourself to the restroom, take a walk, or leave work "sick" (Why is "sick" in quotation marks? Tears are legit, and so is depression.)

2. Would clients or customers be exposed to your crying? If the answer is yes, I'd suggest the same actions as above.

3. It's generally more socially acceptable for a woman to cry in the workplace than a man, but that opens the door to another question entirely and it brings up another gender issue. When women cry, they risk being labeled as "overemotional" (or, as in my case, an overemotional nutjob).

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