There is no crying in baseball?

A few days ago, I asked a colleague if everything was ok because the colleague was not looking all good.

The colleague motioned me to close the door.  And broke down.  Tears down the cheeks.

It was all related to workplace stress.

I listened.  As I have noted many times in the past, I learnt a long time ago that when people share emotions it is not because a problem has to be fixed.  Instead, it is about having somebody to listen to.

The colleague thanked me for listening.

A couple of days later, the colleague said, "I am sorry for having been unprofessional.  And I am glad you didn't roll your eyes ..."

"Whether it is at home or at work, I don't roll my eyes in such contexts" I said.  "We are humans, and we have emotions.  We can't be robots at work.  Sometimes the emotions overwhelm us."

Quite a coincidence that a leading peddler of fake news has a piece about crying at work and why you shouldn't feel bad about it.  It is an interview with "Alison Green, who runs the career advice blog Ask a Manager and whose latest book, which has the same title, published earlier this year."

The bottom-line there is no different from what I told the colleague:

We’re human! We have emotions! Good managers will know that, and it’s not the end of the world if you occasionally show that at work.

I don't understand why this should be news to anybody.  Right?

So, why the tears at work?

If you’re really invested in your work and care deeply about doing a good job, you’re more likely to experience the sort of disappointment or frustration that can result in teariness. And of course, employers want us to be engaged in our work and to care deeply about it — and it’s hard to do that but also be detached enough that you never have a strong emotional reaction. So again, it goes to context and frequency. If it’s occasional and relatively private, you’re probably fine. If it’s frequent and/or public, if I’m your boss I’m going to be more concerned and trying to figure out what’s going on.

Which is also exactly what I told the colleague: The emotions were because the colleague was so involved and invested in the work and the people.  If this investment and involvement occasionally brings out tears, hey, we are human.  "The key word there being “occasionally.”"