Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Pulling My Hair Out


I think I am on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Seriously.

Think about your busiest day of work. I’m talking the craziest day of the whole year. Now imagine that you are living that day over and over and over again. For more than two weeks. This has become my life.

Yes, I work in real estate advertising, and I know that this is the “busy season,” but this is getting ridiculous. The distribution of work in my department is absolute crap. Three other people in my department have my exact same job, yet I am doing more than 50% of the workload. Leaving a mere 16.5% for each of them to do!! Does this seem fair?

To try to explain the magnitude of how busy I have been lately, here’s a fun fact: It’s only June 7, and I have already made 99.98% of my goal for the month! I should be happy about this, but I’m afraid that it’s only going to get worse… and I can’t take it anymore!!

Today I actually yelled at my sales rep. In front of people. Who stared. It was really embarrassing. I’m pretty sure I used profanity. Whoops. But I’m generally a reasonably calm, level-headed person. How stressed must I have been to be pushed to such desperate measures?

And the most annoying part of all is that I do not get paid any more than the other slackers surfing the internet down the row from me. Nor do they ever offer any help. And today, on deadline, under pressure, swamped with papers, with my rep breathing down my neck, I flipped out. I need a mental health day.

Technically, mental health is a concept that refers to an individual’s emotional and psychological well-being. In good mental health, a person should be able to function in society and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life. Yes, I admit I’m still functioning, but I’m on the verge of going over the edge.

Do you think my boss would actually go for it if I called in mentally ill? I guess it would probably be smarter to just call in sick.

But here comes the irony… Calling in sick to work would only make me more stressed out. I would spend the entire day thinking about what I should be doing at work, and the mess I would inevitably have to clean up upon my return. It’s just not worth it.

Maybe I will just take up drinking on my lunch hour.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coming from an almost professional: sick in the head counts as "sick". I'll write you a note if you need one. I hope things get better for you, quick...

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you need a tranquil yet tormented pal to take you to see "Cars" this weekend. You will laugh and you will stop thinking about work! Or I'll give you something to think about! No I'm not your real dad, that doesn't matter! Now stop thinking or you can just think yourself right out of this car young lady!

Steve

Anonymous said...

SaraBeth,
You might try doing what I do. Write a very pointed, but accurate, complaint letter to the company's manager/owner, with copies to Better Business Bureau and Attorney Generals Office (Consumer Affairs - no, not that kind of affair.) It often gets results - but even if it doesn't it's great therapy for you.