Friday, June 29, 2007

You have to laugh

You can laugh. I was near tears today, or punching something, at work. Three hours on the reference desk because of Staff Meltdown.
[Aside: I realized in the shower yesterday morning, staring at the water spraying out of the wall, that there is no way, if I read this whole mess (of the Staff Member's current predicament) in a book or saw it on a soap, I would be able to believe it. It boggles the mind. I'd call it shitty writing and throw down the book/change the channel.]


Anyway. A full hour of my reference time was spent talking to a Normal-on-the-Outside-CrazyFace-on-the-Inside woman and getting her set up with an email address. For variety, today was Hotmail. It. Took. An. Hour. I am NOT exaggerating. Ten.Full.Minutes.To.Think.Of.A.Password. Found out way too much info about her ex-husband and how many people he "knows" and how he's pulled strings at Yahoo, Hotmail and everywhere else to prevent her from accessing email.

Yo-kay. Full moon much?
I did not yell at her. Not even a little. Not even once.

About 45 minutes was actually squeezed in for cataloging. Had I not done that I might have finished the Demand Order I started at 8 a.m. I spent a full hour with V. walking her through the database. Over and over. And over. And over and over. And realizing that there is no way to adjust the font so she can see it: those controls are blocked from my monkey-fingers. She can't see the text without getting right up next to the (very large) screen. After an hour sitting with her, I went back to my desk, where she called for help every ten minutes or so. She's very confused, but she'll muddle through. I can't yell at her; she's smart as a whip, but she's just not getting the concepts easily--she is 90-mumble years old after all--and a dear, dear person.

Part of the day involved taking Sparky to church for Vacation Bible School and picking him up. I drove him home after VBS with instructions to eat lunch and pack a "picnic" for himself for the closing celebration tonight. Then I drove back to town to the dress-fitting place where I was told that I have a long torso, and she re positioned...uh, the support system which was...uh, not supporting anything, in fact, totally defying gravity in the process. Hopefully by Monday, all will be fine.

Back to work where I downed a two-week-old (plastic wrapped) muffin in less than 5 minutes.

The last hour of work was me on the phone with Beast trying to figure out dropping of Sparky at his thing--and a potential change of venue at the last minute--him getting to the park in town to meet with friends for dinner and music, contacting friends to see where we actually were meeting and eating, and then relaying that info back to Beast.

Oh, and I am buried in Demand order cards, Demand materials from last week's order, Inventory errors found today, screw-ups from my training with V. that I need to fix, and...oh, yeah, I have to feed the fish tomorrow.

If this didn't confuse you, come live my life. I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Laugh, cry, or lock yourself in a small room.

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