Posted on 10/15/2005 8:17:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
WHEN women first joined the executive ranks of corporate America a generation ago, they donned sober slacks and button-down shirts. They carried standard-issue briefcases and adopted their male colleagues' stoicism.
More than two decades later, women have stopped trying to behave like men, trading in drab briefcases for handbags and embracing men's wear only if it is tailored to their curves. Yet there is one taboo from the earlier, prefeminist workplace that endures: women are not allowed to cry at the office. It is a potentially career-marring mistake that continues to be seen as a sign of weakness or irrationality, no less by women themselves than by men.
For evidence consider a recent episode of NBC's "Apprentice: Martha Stewart," in which a young woman whose team had just lost a flower-selling contest told Ms. Stewart that she felt like crying. Her admission elicited no sympathy from her prospective employer, only blunt career advice.
"Cry and you are out of here," Ms. Stewart said. "Women in business don't cry, my dear."
Women in politics don't either, judging by Geena Davis's performance as the steely Mackenzie Allen on ABC's "Commander in Chief." Discussing the pilot episode, in which Allen navigates a political minefield to ascend to the office of president of the United States, Ms. Davis told a reporter from The Chicago Sun-Times, "I did not cry in my pilot - no!"
For reasons both biological and social, scientists and sociologists say, women are more inclined than men to feel the urge to cry when they are frustrated. Yet Martha Stewart is not the only woman executive who expects her underlings to remain dry-eyed. Many other workplace veterans also impose the rule and through seminars, books, Web sites and private conversations, recommend tricks for how to follow it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
As someone who has considered myself a business woman for 30 years, I must state that the rule is: NO CRYING AT WORK!
And there's no crying in baseball either
When does reality stop and TV start for these people?
I saw it on a TV show therefore it must be real.
More and more, I believe it is one's duty not to show a bit of emotion toward anyone except your spouse, and only while in the throws of aggressive intimacy.
Anybody who cannot stay on top of their emotions has no business in business. It is dog eat dog, nothing personal. No company rates that kind of attention. Even in business where it was essentially family, we were always soldiers and I've expected nothing less of my employees.
I mean no offense, but your comment and your tagline seem to be in conflict.
But when you're a United States Senator from Ohio, you can cry like a little bitch on the Senate Floor and stop a good man from receiving an up-or-down vote. How humiliating for us Buckeyes that we sent a weak sister like George Voinovich to the Senate.
The rule for guys is, no crying, anywhere.
Well, that's the rule for us "seasoned" guys.
"Suck it up."
"Shake it off."
"Move it out."
I'm surprised anyone at the NY Times would print such a truism.
Ed Muskie's crying did him in.
But in football, Coaches Schottenheimer and Vermeil have both been known to cry. It all started with the movie Brian's Song. After that, it's OK to cry in football.
Crying because your buddy is dying from cancer at 26 is OK. Crying because you lost a football game or your starting QB got hurt is pathetic.
Someone should have told Louisanna Governor Kathleen Blanco and Senator Mary Landrau, that.
I made that mistake when I was 19. Now I know better.
Also learned at a young age not to gossip. Thank God I have learned this early.
Well, I'm a Cub fan so...I might be crying soon.
Crying finished Ed's Presidential campaign. Muskie wasn't truly finished until he joined the Carter Administration. Having that on your resume as a politician is the equivalent of a Finance guy having worked in the HQ of Enron.
What a pile of crap from the NYTimes. Women cry in the workplace all day long.
Look for more ridiculousness from the left. This new TV show will become the darling of the media as they try to prove for Hillary's sake that a woman should be president.
"Ed Muskie's crying did him in."
That's true, it did.
Business is often personal. When your livelihood and your family's lifestyle depend on your esrnings, it is personal. The trick is to turn away from the negative emotions while remembering the object lesson of the event.
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