Moved to tears

I have always – and I DO mean ALWAYS been easily moved to tears.  My earliest memory of crying over something outside my personal experience was when I read Little Women.  If you can read that without crying at least once you’re stronger than me.  When I was just out of high school a group of friends would joke about one our members being so emotional she’d cry at supermarket openings.  I think that’s about the only thing that wouldn’t make me cry – I hope; I’m not testing it any time soon.  Seriously, I should have stock in Kleenex®.

It doesn’t take much in the way of suggestion to have me weepy either.  I’ll find my eyes prickling with unshed tears watching the Budweiser® commercials featuring the Clydesdales for heaven’s sake!  I’m a sucker for an animal rescue story; or what about a child being surprised by a parent on leave from the military?  Then there’s the complete reverse: son or daughter surprising mom or dad while home on leave.  They’re all available at YouTube – go for it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Trying to nail down a recent occasion is more difficult, probably because there are so many to choose from.  But practically every episode of Undercover Boss has made me cry.  I know, right?  Undercover Boss?

Yup.  For anyone who hasn’t seen this reality series, it features a bigwig going incognito to work among his employees.  Sometimes it’s the top mucky muck, other times if that person is too well known he’ll delegate the job to someone less familiar.  They spend about a week working in the trenches and getting to know several of their employees on a more personal level.  I’m not sure how employees are selected but every one of them seems to have some issue or other that they have to deal with.  More than one had a special needs child, another was homeless, still another was helping support his mother and siblings.  One woman was saving for her wedding.  Many faced substance abuse problems – either their own or a family member’s.  The issues were varied and some were more trivial than others, but obviously still very important to the individual.

At the end of the week, the employees are called back to headquarters where the CEO or whomever reveals his identity and rewards the faithful employees.  I cry every single time.

Several bosses sent employees and their families on fully paid vacations.  Another promoted the employee to a corporate-wide training position so they could duplicate their positive attitude across the company.  The guy from David’s Bridal gave his sales person the funds for the wedding of her dreams.  Still another bought a house for the employee!  Who could remain dry-eyed watching these people receive such incredible recognition for their contributions?  Even JD tears up, though his tears are for a completely different reason and we won’t go there or I’ll get depressed.  It’s Friday, I REFUSE to be depressed!

I don’t follow broadcast television as a rule so I have no idea whether this show is still on the air, but if you need a good cry check it out.  I imagine you can find it on Netflix or Hulu.  Maybe you don’t need a good cry; watch one or two anyway – it’s a feel-good show and there aren’t a lot of those around.

Happy Weekend everyone!

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