No let-up at work so far…in fact, just the opposite as one of my team members has had a bit of a breakdown due to several factors and is taking time off for mental health. Apparently the fact that doing so will contribute to giving the rest of us a breakdown wasn’t enough of a deterrent. Augh.
Yesterday was horrible as I was already stressed about everything at work before I even got there, and when I drove up to work and parked, I realized that my parking permit was missing from the little holder on the windshield. AUGH! Anders had very kindly taken my car this weekend and washed it and cleaned the entire inside, which it was in dire need of since I had 1) spilled the dirt from a potted plant LAST SUMMER in the back and 2) spilled the gravel from a fake mini-Christmas tree pot last month in the back and 3) had apparently flung every tissue and receipt and scrap of paper on the floor over the course of several months (not really, but it sure looked like it).
So, I thought he had perhaps moved it during the cleaning process, but it wasn’t in the holder between the front seats, and it wasn’t in the glove compartment and it wasn’t on the floor or under the seats. GAH. I texted him but I had to go in to work, and to go get a temporary permit would have required a 15-minute trek through freezing cold and wind to our main building reception and I just couldn’t be buggered so I called our reception to ask if I could pay via the machine outside for our lot and they said yes, so I walked to the end of our building, got the number of the lot and paid for parking with an app (Parkster, which I normally love).
Our receptionist also informed me that if I needed to order a new parking permit, it would cost me 500 kronor. Suck.
Around lunchtime, Anders texted me back and said he hadn’t touched the permit and perhaps it had slid down between the windshield and the dashboard? So I went out in the freezing cold to check and THERE WAS A PARKING TICKET ON MY CAR.
AAAUGH!!!!
And sure enough, the stupid permit WAS down between the dash and windshield and of course, I couldn’t reach it. So I went back inside and called the parking company about why I got a ticket when I was PAYING for parking and it turns out you must have a permit in the part of the lot I was in. The parking machine is only valid for the other end, though it doesn’t look that way on the app.
Went back inside and got various implements from colleagues with which to try retrieving the permit, none of which worked and which left me almost in tears, in the ¤!&#@ freezing cold, until finally one of my teammates had the brilliant idea of putting sticky tape backwards on a long piece of paper. After two attempts, that worked! HURRAH! Permit retrieved and back in place. 400 kronor for the ticket, thank you very much, plus the time already paid on the app.
Today, the work insanity continued with the news that my sick teammate would probably not be back all week. We are just slammed with work and being short-staffed is killing us. I’m not mad at her or anything, as I totally understand the need, but oy it leaves us in a bad place. We added two of her bigger projects to our to-do list and plugged on.
In the afternoon, however, I got an email forwarded to me from my boss, that was sent to her by another colleague (in a different part of our department), that said this (translated from Swedish):
***
Hej (Liz’s boss)
I hope all is well with you!
I know that we, at Axis, are not always so good about rewarding each other, but this time I feel that there is a certain person in your team who is always there for me! And that person is Liz.
She shows me, time after time, that she always goes above and beyond in everything she does!
She is not only fast, but she listens, she OFTEN provides better suggestions, and she challenges me to think in different ways. And I like that!
She is always friendly, even if I drive her crazy with my requests. She doesn’t just do a job, she creates delight. That’s how I feel when I work with her.
I thought I would just tell you how much I appreciate her and her work! 🙂
Take care,
(Liz’s colleague)
***
Wasn’t that NICE?? It made up for an awful lot of the stress that work is causing right now, and I plan to go back and read it every day that I start feeling like everything sucks and nothing is fun or good, because it’s not true. It’s just tough right now.
I came home and sat with the massager for awhile to try and work the kinks out of my shoulder and Anders came home and made a DELICIOUS dinner. Karin made a delicious dinner too, on Sunday night, so see? Things around the edges are pretty darn good.
I can get through this rough spot at work…I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. 🙂