Temper temper
I kind of lost it at work today.
The day started well. My birthday, for one thing. Sunshine, for another. A pre-planned late morning--coffee at home, an hour of robe time.
Then I got to work.
I won't bore you with the details. Except this one, which took place in a meeting that I was required to attend even though I have four times as many trouble tickets to clear and four times as many users to support as any other team member, and the meeting was about how many trouble tickets we have and how important it is to get through them all every day:
Droning Boss of Haiku Inspiration (via conference phone from a remote location): [Charlie Brown grownup talk sounds] We have 83 trouble tickets in the system this morning [wah-wah-wah-wah] and we have a high priority on [issue that actually concerns me.]
Me: *feels blood pressure palpably rising*: There are some problems with that priority [explainy].
Droning Man: [interrupty] Wah-wah-wah-wah
Me: *tries again* *starts to see red* *looks at clock* *thinks about all the work*
Droning Man: What was that, Em? I can't hear you over this conference phone.
Me: *steam comes out ears* You can't hear me when we're both in the same room.
Twenty other people in the meeting: *stunned*
So, for the next two hours nobody talks to me--and can we blame them, really?--but one coworker tiptoes over and sets a jasmine pearls green teabag on my desk with a note about hoping my day gets better.
Pretty soon my actual boss comes to my desk and says she'd like to see me in her office when I have a minute. I am actually glad to be SO FUCKING BUSY that I don't have a minute all day long, so I won't have to hear the attitude lecture.
Then around 4:00 she comes to my desk and kind of sheepishly hands me a birthday card, and I realize, Oh! That was why she wanted me to stop by her office. She hates Droning Man of Haiku Inspiration too. I was just the Cordelia who said what everyone else was thinking.
No prizes for that, but I got through the day. Was home before 9:00 p.m., and I have two whole days off. The fact that that feels special to me goes a long way toward explaining my intemperate outburst. Excuse it, too? Maybe.
The day started well. My birthday, for one thing. Sunshine, for another. A pre-planned late morning--coffee at home, an hour of robe time.
Then I got to work.
I won't bore you with the details. Except this one, which took place in a meeting that I was required to attend even though I have four times as many trouble tickets to clear and four times as many users to support as any other team member, and the meeting was about how many trouble tickets we have and how important it is to get through them all every day:
Droning Boss of Haiku Inspiration (via conference phone from a remote location): [Charlie Brown grownup talk sounds] We have 83 trouble tickets in the system this morning [wah-wah-wah-wah] and we have a high priority on [issue that actually concerns me.]
Me: *feels blood pressure palpably rising*: There are some problems with that priority [explainy].
Droning Man: [interrupty] Wah-wah-wah-wah
Me: *tries again* *starts to see red* *looks at clock* *thinks about all the work*
Droning Man: What was that, Em? I can't hear you over this conference phone.
Me: *steam comes out ears* You can't hear me when we're both in the same room.
Twenty other people in the meeting: *stunned*
So, for the next two hours nobody talks to me--and can we blame them, really?--but one coworker tiptoes over and sets a jasmine pearls green teabag on my desk with a note about hoping my day gets better.
Pretty soon my actual boss comes to my desk and says she'd like to see me in her office when I have a minute. I am actually glad to be SO FUCKING BUSY that I don't have a minute all day long, so I won't have to hear the attitude lecture.
Then around 4:00 she comes to my desk and kind of sheepishly hands me a birthday card, and I realize, Oh! That was why she wanted me to stop by her office. She hates Droning Man of Haiku Inspiration too. I was just the Cordelia who said what everyone else was thinking.
No prizes for that, but I got through the day. Was home before 9:00 p.m., and I have two whole days off. The fact that that feels special to me goes a long way toward explaining my intemperate outburst. Excuse it, too? Maybe.