I lost it at work two weeks ago. Not a few tears running down my face, but an ugly, bawling meltdown.
The conversation that precipitated this scene was innocent enough. I was talking about my mother-in-law, who recently entered assisted living, and how I wrapped 12 Christmas packages for her—one to open each day, since we weren’t able to visit her. Then this wave of emotion that I’d been bottling up for months—well, it came out.
Thankfully, I work at a place where tears aren’t seen as unprofessional, but as a characteristic of being human.
Interestingly, a few days earlier, as I waited for my pictures to print at a local pharmacy chain kiosk, I witnessed a cashier, who has always demonstrated the highest in customer service, patience and kindness, completely lose patience with a customer. She dashed into an adjacent room, and, after she escaped through the door, yelled, “I can’t take this anymore.”