Monday
Day:
Crazy busy start to the work week, make sure my boss' train is on
schedule from point A to point B. Coordinate a pick up time at the
train station. Major deadline looming at the end of the week, haven't
even started due to all the incoming emails that I have to take care
of. Need to concentrate but can't due to the endless chitter chatter
in the office. Block it out, back to work on the deadline...wait more
emails coming through. Stop what you're doing run and pick up boss
from the train station. Get back to the office, drop what you're
doing. “Yes boss?” “You have technical issues with the
computer, of course, it's Monday!” “Hello IT Department, please
help this is urgent, there's no time for your 24 hour turnaround
time”. Two hours later, a million other stupid little things pop up
during the day, taking me away from my deadline. Great, it's 5 pm and
the work day is over with no headway on my deadline. Pack it up.
Evening:
Splitting headache, tired and hungry don't know what to eat, don't
feel like cooking. Eating stale crackers and cheese while drinking
flat ginger ale. No time for grocery shopping. One piece of fruit
left hurray...wait it's rotten on the inside – crap. So much for
that! Ring, ring, “Hello Mummy, how are you?” “I'm sorry I
didn't have a chance to stop by to see you and dad after work”.
“I've had the longest day and I'm so tired”. “Can I talk you to
you in a little while?” “Oh Uncle is coming to visit you later,
okay that's nice”. “Sure, I'll add all the items to the list and
will pick it up as soon as I can”. “You have another doctor's
appointment coming up, plus dad's specialist appointment, okay can
you remind me closer to the date, what?” “No...you'll forget?”
“Okay, hang on, let me grab a piece of paper to jot down the
dates”. “Your other line is ringing, don't answer....it! Hello?
Mummy?” Damn it!!!! Watch TV, make a cup of tea, go to bed early.
Wake up at 1 am with the TV blaring, peel myself off the couch and
crawl into bed.
Tuesday
Day: So
tired, didn't sleep well. How am I going to get through the day? Damn
traffic, rain, construction. Wow got to work 9 am on the dot,
surprised I wasn't pulled over for driving like a maniac! Deadline is
on Friday, need to get my draft finished and have it approved by 5
people. Drink coffee, wake up brain. Check emails, sort...not
important, flag for later. Work on deadline. “Yes, boss?” “Your
cell phone is not synching your calendar, okay will get IT on the
phone.” “Hello, IT Department, yes it's me again, yes I know
you're swamped with a major crisis on hand, with a possible breach of
security, I totally understand, however my boss' iPhone calendar
doesn't seem to be synching up with his office calendar, and as you
can tell it is extremely problematic - as I'm seeing available spots
in his calendar when that's not the case indeed”. “Bring the
phone over now?” “Okay thank you very much”. Stop what I'm
doing. Go see IT across the street. Get back, fire alarm, evacuate
the building. Wait outside for 2 hours. Go inside, what's it's 3 pm?
Haven't even had my lunch. Where's my lunch, crap I left it at home.
5 pm work day over, I'll stay late to work on my deadline. Blah blah
blah Marketing department is having an after hours pow wow. Damn open
concept, I hate it! Pack it up time to go home.
Evening:
Ring, ring, “Hi Complicator, how are you?” “Are you calling me
while driving on the highway?” “I've asked you not to do that”.
“Someone just cut you off, what a surprise!” “Do you want to
call me once you're home?” “Oh, you're on your way to meet
Dieter” (new best friend). “Oh thanks for the movie offer while
you're half way there, but Mad Max isn't
on my top ten list and it's Tuesday night, I'm not a big fan of half
price Tuesday as everyone and their dog is at the movies!” “My
day? Oh, well it was a long day and I'm so tired”. “Hello?
Hello?” Phone disconnected great! Okay, put bag down, change
clothes, do a workout but I'm so tired. Ring, ring, “Hi, what
happened?” “Your battery is about to die, where's the car charger
I got you?” “Well it can't help you if it's at home”. “Hello?
Hello?” Damn it!! Put groceries away after several trips to the
car. Too tired to cook, I'll just eat snacks. Have a cup of tea with
chocolate and watch one hour of TV then go to bed early. Wake up at 2
am on the couch, turn TV off and do a zombie walk to the bed.
Wednesday
Day: Waaa
waaa waaa alarm clock rings. Is it 6:30 am already? Sooo tired, what
am I going to wear today? Damn shoes everywhere, I have to organize
my closet this weekend. Need tea, put the kettle on, what's that
smell? Drats, forgot to add water. Not off to a great start. Crap
just realized I have a 9:30 am meeting and need to get to work early.
How is it 7:45 am already? Shit! Damn traffic, school buses and
crossing guards, come on speed it up people, cross the road. Bumper
to bumper on the highway, get to work at 9:05 am walk into office all
sweaty, get a raised eyebrow and a look of judgement from co-worker.
Need to make photocopies for the meeting, 8 sets of 30 pages.
Beep, beep, beep – paper jam, bloody hell! Okay, figure it
out...follow the red lights on the diagram. Good back to business.
Idiot co-worker approaches, “What you need me to pause, so you can
print an email now?” “Sure, sure, hurry up then”. 9:20 am,
shit, make sure everything is ready for the meeting. Email from
boss...what? Reschedule the meeting for next week! Are you frigging
kidding me? (Inner voice/scream ARRRGH!). Need coffee, take a deep
breath...everything is going to be okay. Time to redirect, deadline
need to work on the deadline, get into the zone, listen to music and
put ear buds on and block out the noise. “Yes boss?” “You can't
open your master spreadsheet, let me take a crack at it”. “Stop
everything!!!” “Hello IT Department, how's everyone today?”
“Did I thank you for the other day?” “Oh, good you received my
hand delivered card and chocolates”. “Is there anyway you can log
in remotely and take a look?” “I see, the wait time today is 4-6
hours?” “Yes, I understand that you're not here to accommodate
just our office, did I mention the chocolates are Belgian?” Crap,
just realized those important emails that I flagged are due today!
Okay multi-task that's why you got this job, calm under pressure,
remember what you told them. Stop...incoming nerd alert...“Can I
help you?” Moron co-worker says, “We're out of vanilla cream
coffee”. My response, “Well thank you for bringing it to my
attention”. “The coffee order is bi-weekly and I will add it to
the next round, do you think you'll be able to survive without it for
a week?” That's right, back away sheepishly like the little weasel
that you are. I don't have time for this right now! Back to my
deadline, start typing....urgent meeting request. Okay, got it
reschedule multiple calendars, appointment sent. 4 pm? What? How did
this happen? Okay, eat a snack, must work late to meet deadline. Why
isn't Marketing leaving? Another bloody after hours meeting? (Code
for ordering food in and total gab fest on company Visa). Just great,
can't concentrate here. Time to pack it up.
Evening:
Must go home and wash hair and
blow dry/straighten and touch up nails, pick a nice outfit for
tomorrow, make my lunch. Go to bed early, get to work early and make
it happen tomorrow.
Ring,
ring, “Hello mummy, what time am I coming over?” “Did I say it
was today?” “Oh, mum you won't believe the day I had”. “Dad
made an extra special dinner and he's expecting me?” “Okay, I'm
on my way, please give me about 40 minutes to get there with traffic
and everything and no calls after 15 minutes, asking where I am
okay?” “Hello mum? Hello?” Phone disconnected. Breathe
deeply....See mum and dad, have dinner. News update with dad...”I
agree, so many bad things happening in the world, yes I am very lucky
to live here and shouldn't complain about anything”. Update with
mum about Bobby (brother) having health problems. “Okay mum I will
check in on him”. “Yes I totally understand that he has a
stressful part time job working 20 hours a week”. “Okay mum, I
will try and be more compassionate”. “Love you bye see you soon”.
“Mum don't call me in an hour to give me a random update okay, as I
have to wash my hair”. 8 pm finally arrive home exhausted! Sit on
the couch for half an hour tops, then wash my hair etc. Wake up at 3
am to a loud weight loss infomercial, shit! 16 hour eye make up is
still on all smeared and won't come off, I look like a disoriented
raccoon and crawl into bed and set the alarm. I will have to wash my
hair in the morning.
Thursday
Day: Sunlight
streaming into the bedroom, birds chirping merrily outside my window.
Ahh finally Saturday! Wait, it's Thursday, crap! Alarm didn't go off,
it's 7:57 am, double crap!!! No time to wash hair. Spray dry shampoo,
yuck the fumes, it didn't do anything. Off to work with a greasy
ponytail and a major headache. Did I already wear this black skirt
and jacket this week? I don't remember, crap it's wrinkled. No time
to steam :( Major accident on the highway, traffic at a standstill,
can't even exit to take an alternate route. Stay calm, focus on your
breathing. Park, walk, run up the stairs. Time check. 9:10 am oh
well, not bad! I look like a bit dishevelled, but act confident while
wearing a brown top instead of dark grey with my repeat black
wrinkled suit (silent scream/arrrgh) – stay calm and try and get
through the week. Everyone buzz off, I've got my deadline to work on
and that's all that matters today. I can make this happen. I thrive
under pressure or is it I crack under pressure? Visions of me running
down the corridor screaming and yelling float through my head. No
snap out of it, focus...deadline. “Yes, boss, you need a ride to
your off site meeting for 11 am”. “No, you didn't mention this
to me before, you're initial ride cancelled. Got it!!” (Inner
voice...“Get your own bloody car, when the hell did I become
chauffeur?”) Two hours later (as I was asked to wait in the car),
back at the office, eat something quickly, tuna salad again, I'm
going to be nauseous but brain food will be good for meeting my
deadline. I can make this happen. Block everything out and get it done
already. “Yes boss, your printer toner is finished?” (Inside
voice...“Get the frigg off your lazy ass and walk down to the
storage room, and get your own damn toner and shove it in your
printer”). Sure, give me a minute....deep breath....need to play
the lottery this Friday, can't keep doing this. What 5 pm already?
Deadline is not even close to being done..shoot me!
Evening: Turn
on the office computer at home, must push myself to get it done
without interruptions. I'll feel better then I'll have time to tweak
it Friday morning and send for approval. Making progress...good
adrenalin has kicked in, stay away cortisol don't need any more belly
fat. Wait...what's that dreadful sound? Someone's hammering over my
head, they're not supposed to be doing renos after hours. Shit! Or is
it the pyscho upstairs who has a few loose screws? Okay, grab
temperamental laptop and work in the kitchen, Power up, will focus,
turn on music...get it done. 8 pm all done! Phew! Now wash hair and
feel powerful for tomorrow so I can get through the day with
confidence! Finally done, hair is sleek. I'll take a quick break to
drink tea, unwind and fast forward through one recorded show, then go
to sleep on time.
Friday
Day:
Wake up at 4 am on the couch, my back...how did this happen? Is it
worth crawling into bed for 2 hours? Start the day, stretch, eye
drops for the redness, take an Advil, have breakfast, steam clothes,
hair is curly, straighten hair again, then leave early. It's almost
the weekend! 8:45 am arrive at work early, time to fluff my hair and
reapply lipstick and I'm ready to go. Wired and so tired, I walk in
confidently, judgemental co-worker has the day off, of course she
does! I start my edits, damn...incoming emails... scan fast, not
urgent, flag for Monday. Back to edits...on a roll, get it done, you
can do this. “Yes boss, your laptop has crashed and is not turning
on at all?” “Hello IT Department, SOS this is an emergency, you
need to send someone over STAT”....“Sure, I can walk over with
the laptop in 2 business days for you to take a look at it”. “Of
course I understand that you're dealing with a network emergency with
possible international hackers corrupting the system”. A few
minutes later, “FUCK!!!” After I tell the good news to the boss.
Okay, it's not directed at you and don't take it personally, remember
he hand picked you himself. Change in schedule, “What?” “You
want to go to the train station earlier, sure (reluctantly) I can
take you”. Drop everything and drive to the train station. Back to
the office, now edits, go go go! All done, send via email to 5 people
for approval. Note to the approvers, “You have 2 hours to get back
to me, yes I said 2 hours! And if I don't hear back from you, I'm
going to make a judgement call and publish it”. Incoming text from
The Complicator: Plans later? Long walk? Bike ride? Run?
My reply: Busy, day, will
let you know later. Inner voice:
“Are you on drugs???”
Evening:
I'm going to make myself a nice dinner, watch a straight to video
release on Netflix and take some time for myself to relax. Ring,
ring, “Hello mummy, no I'm not visiting tonight I didn't say today,
no you're wrong”. “Maybe on the weekend, let me see how I feel”.
“Oh, you're not feeling well, I'm sorry to hear that I will check
in on you I promise”. “Oh, it's also dad that's not feeling well
and he's asking about me thinking I was coming over today?” “Okay,
nice try mum but I'll see you on the weekend”. “Talk soon”.
“Love you bye”. Ring, ring, “Hello Complicator, yes I did
receive your text, but it's been one of those weeks, and so crazy
busy, I'm sorry but I just don't have the energy tonight”. “Yes,
I understand that being active is important and I can't just sit on
the couch”. “I'm glad you had a good 2 hour workout at the gym”.
“Another time alright?” “Thank you for being underst...Hello?”
Phone disconnected, it's time to put the phone on silent. My time to
relax...ahhh good tea, it's Friday night will cue up movie shortly.
Just need to sit still for a bit, then will take a bath, meditate and
go to bed early and get plenty of rest.
5
am wake up on the couch to a motivational infomercial...but of course!
Moody
Girl Out.
No comments:
Post a Comment