Bleah

[essayel]

I'm finding it difficult to be up-beat, positive and creative at the moment. No one particularly bad thing is happening but lots of groan-worthy things are happening at once and pushing my stress levels through the roof.

July is the worst month for teachers. Being polite and not killing anyone all day at school means they have no reserves of tolerance left when they get home. We keep our fingers crossed that things stay gruffly monosyllabic with added eye rolling and occasional flashes of vicious sarcasm. Some people are better at walking on eggshells than others - who don't bother at all but say, "What the fuck's wrong with grumpy-pants?" well within earshot.

Work for once is no refuge because the new exhibition has thrown all our routines out of kilter and the 'management' has made it clear she doesn't give a fuck. When told by me that another member of staff is upset and anxious because she can no longer do the job she has been asked to do, 'management' shrugged and said 'tough, I'm more concerned with putting on decent exhibitions than keeping my staff happy', which IS true, up to a point, but did she have to then bugger off for 2 hours to have her hair done leaving one of the despised members of staff to field all calls and deal with all problems? I don't think so.

There's other stuff - bad back, sore joints, hands ache so typings a bore, can't think straight, can't even RP because I'm too on edge - but one final thing - I wish the dog would stop trying to fuck the cats! I really do. And so do they.

See what I mean. It's nothing. So I'm stressing for feeling guilty about being stressed over what are, when all's said and done, minor problems which will pass [I hope and so do the cats]. There are two or three dozen people on my flist who are qualified to comment with 'Huh! You think you've got problems! Just listen to MINE!!" and prove what a wuss I am. And yeah, I am, I'm unashamedly whining because, basically, that's what LJ is for - to vocalise the feelings that good manners require to remain unvoiced in real life.

And thank God for that. Now I've snapped and bristled here I'll be able to spend the rest of the day smiling and saying 'fine' when people ask 'how are you?' Manners are wonderful things.

Comments

[aisforamy]

*hugs*

Any "manager" who doesn't realize that keeping staff happy is essential to good business and productivity is a complete moron.

I know what you're saying with the little things piling up to make one big snowball of stress. You have my sympathy and an sincere hope that your manager comes down with a case of pubic fleas.

As for getting the dog to stop humping the cats...you got me there, but I'll bet it would go viral if you put it on YouTube.

Hang in there!

[sleveen.livejournal.com]

As someone who taught first-year uni for three years, you have my sympathy. Teaching is a tough gig.

*hugs* :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

If I'd just had a digicam last night!! He was doing it right in front of the TV and partially obscuring our view of nude Captain Jack in Torchwood - which just added insult to the injury!

Thanks for the sympathy. The worst bit of it, Professor Snape's current disenchantment with the world and everything in it, will pass once terms over and, I hope, he can get into his workshop and make some bows and build some furniture. Fingers crossed anyway.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

He'd retire tomorrow if he could poor chap. But at the moment it's like living with Prof Snape sucking a lemon. Teaching is HARD.

Thank goodness for fictional worlds to retreat into, eh? Just read your synopsis for your Moroccan story. Wow! When's it coming out?

[wulfila.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. While this may not be a single great catastrophe of earth-shattering proportions, it truly sounds bad enough to me. Poor you. :(

As for your manager... That sounds like bad tactics, at the very least. Someone who makes their staff feel that they do not matter at all is asking for bad situations.

And I sympathize about having a teacher in the house shortly before the summer holidays. That is an especially stressful time for teachers everywhere in the world, I believe.

[britalone.livejournal.com]

These may all be relatively small problems, but when you start adding them all up you get, as someone has just said, a snowball of stress. I'm not surprised you're feeling it! What I usually say to friends in stressful situations, is don't forget to breath! Deep breath in thru the nose, out thru the mouth. In thru the nose, out thru the mouth. Nice and slowly does it. There, feeling a little better?
I hope there are some calm days ahead for you. :o)

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Teaching is very hard. I couldn't do it and keep my temper. But it doesn't help you when you're walking on eggshells at home after miserable days of your own. Hopefully when the summer holidays arrive it will all ease, and then it's a good long time before it starts up again.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Only one more week of school then he can get out in that shed and finish off a couple of longbows. That's very calming.

The manager is one of those people with no people skills at all when dealing with menials. She's adored by her social equals and 'superiors' but seems to view workmen and her subordinates as a] mentally deficient and b] unworthy of notice. At least, that's how it comes across. Possibly she just thinks she's being funny? It's a pity though, because she doesn't get the best out of us.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

hee, and repeating 'every day in every way I'm getting better and better'.

*hugs* the summer holidays can't come soon enough for me.

***breathes***

[essayel.livejournal.com]

About 2 weeks in, usually, he's suddenly back! He'll read a lot and make longbows and he's scratch building a 1:40 model of a 1840 RN brig (http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/Essayel/?action=view&current=DSCN0269.jpg) from dockyard plans and needs to finish the rigging.

Speaking of reading, False Colours arrived this morning *bounces* so I'm planning on some early nights for reading in bed purposes!

[yakalskovich]

**hugs you**

[essayel.livejournal.com]

**hugs back*

/grumble

[casfic.livejournal.com]

I have the utmost respect for anyone who can teach adolescents without murdering them, so a certain amount of grumpiness at this time of year is understandable.

As for your manager - others have said it - she's a moron. One of the very first things I learnt about having staff is that happy staff are productive staff. Unhappy, pissed off people will not go the extra mile for you when you need them to work late to get something important done.

[britalone.livejournal.com]

Ah a Pink Panther fan I see! But beware, look what happened to him in the end! I'd hate to see you twitch like him!! lol

[britalone.livejournal.com]

Dreyfus that is!

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I already twitch a bit. Not quite as much as Dreyfus I must admit.

Actually you've reminded me to watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek44tW0Dqig). It always raises a giggle.

[(Anonymous)]

.

Chocolate!

It fixes everything that duct tape doesn't, and duct tape fixes the rest.


.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

We've even had it in writing from the Job Evaluation team that our managers consider us to need no skills, knowledge or aptitude and that we are never left unsupervised or expected to work on our own initiative or asked to take any responsibility because a 'curator is always present'.

Lies! You can imagine how that made us all feel.

How's the new job going? How's Himself?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

That is such good advice. Thank you!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! I will hope that FC can keep you distracted a little from the pre-holidays stress :D