Sometimes I want to cry. Especially at the office.

And since I work at a spiritually inclined business, it seems like it should be ok.

You're joking, right? Suggesting that women use their ability to cry to get their way in the workplace is tantamount to suggesting that men feel free to scream or just hit someone when something isn't going their way at the office. Crying to win is emotional abuse. Why, if I'm in the right over some office dispute, should I give in to you simply because you can easily telegraph pain and anguish? Why should reason and compromise take a back seat to emotional appeal? Ridiculous. You've trained us to scream and hit at the gym instead of the living room; do us a favor and cry in the bathroom instead of the meeting room.

An article this profoundly dumb makes any detailed analysis of its thesis utterly redundant. Instead, this article merits, not any comment from myself, but instead, a quotation from that classic of Western cinema, "Billy Madison," starring Adam Sandler.

Therefore:

"Mrs. Berry, what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent essay were you even close to anything resembling a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

I am sure that Mrs. Berry approves of this pointless email from me, since what I have just said is, after all, an honest expression of my inner emotions.

--Oliver

the sentiments in this story are right up there with efforts to sanitize the workplace for the supposed benefit of women. no one deserves to be harassed, sexually or otherwise, in the workplace, but beyond that, the sentiments in this article, coupled with current efforts to "protect" working women has had the effect of reinforcing the notion that women are fragile creatures easily given to offense and discomfort in the face of the icky realities of harsh world. it's demeaning, and it goes to a very old argument for keeping women locked up in the home, where they can exist in total safety and bliss, safely under the protection (and thumb) of a man...

i'd be all for public crying in the office, except that what i've noticed over the years is that nine times out of ten, at best, the people who do it aren't doing it because they feel remorse over something they screwed up and how it inconvenienced everyone else, they're crying because they feel bad having that brought to their attention, and it's method - unconscious or conscious - of comforting themselves and manipulating others into assisting in that effort. at worst, it's just a cold, hard, calculated attempt to curry inappropriate sympathy and deflect attention from poor performance.

need to cry? go to the washroom or go home.