Hortus Deliciarum

It’s been a hell of a week. I mean last week, obviously, since Sunday is widely opined to be the first day of the week, something I’ve never understood because, well, it’s the weekEND.

Anyway.

It’s been a hell of a post-Christmas, is what I should say. I was out sick from work the week after New Year’s because of a helluva virus that knocked me down, jumped on me, and left me doing not much but watching TV and reading books. The following week was nuts at work, because I was trying to catch up on everything I hadn’t done the week before, and then the week after THAT? We had layoffs. The other member of my team, the receptionist, was laid off and my job was made into my job AND her job. I now sit at the reception desk doing a mashup of two jobs and, while I’m exceedingly grateful both to have a job and for the title/pay upgrades that were accordingly awarded, adjusting to a new schedule is impressively hard. It’s also difficult to adjust to constant phone calls and visitors interrupting my work, although I’ve had this role before in other jobs. I’m hoping that I will soon move into “just” busy rather than insanely-want-to-scream busy…but what hasn’t helped with that is the multiple-whammies of last week.

Last week I was hormonal (yippee!), insanely-want-to-scream busy, and got pummeled twice in Facebook brawls, both of which left me feeling very shaken. I very seriously considered quitting FB altogether but decided to just step back and not post anything political for some time. I’m okay now, if feeling twice-bitten, thrice-shy, but the real doozy was the head cold I came down with Friday evening. Hormonal stuff tends to cause me headaches and I can cope with all but the most head-pounding of them but head colds send me into a self-pitying, grumpy, exhausted spiral of woe. I’d take tomorrow off, only the above-mentioned work changes mean that it’s especially difficult to deal with sick days, because we now have people in the office filling in for reception on breaks, rather than temps, so I inconvenience everyone if I’m sick. But, it also means there are four people I’m directly exposing, because they cover for me at my desk during breaks/lunch, and even sanitizing wipes might not work.

I just wish it weren’t all at once and, invariably, that’s what seems to happen. I really, really just want one more day off, without having to worry about reception cover and guilt, to feel better and a little less fragile.