Midweek vent
February 11, 2016

I have to get myself ready for this trip to AZ and I can barely drag my ass through the day as it is. I'm so freaking tired I want to drop. Mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.

I have no clue what I'm going to take for clothes. I'm such a fat hog I don't even know if the clothes I bought last summer are going to fit, and I can't summon the energy dig the stuff out and try anything on. Doesn't matter anyway--it's not like I can go out and buy new shorts and summer tops in Wisconsin, in February. It's eight frigging degrees here, for cripe's sakes.

Spouse is not a great deal of help--he is sick this week with the horrible crap cold that I had last week, and he can barely function. Which is understandable--I could barely function when I was in the grip of it, and he is much less capable than I of coping with such things. The slightest sniffle will have him thinking he's arrived on Death's doorstep--give him a serious cold and he will just go ahead and install himself in Death's spare bedroom.

Work is kicking my ass, too. It is constantly demoralizing. Bushels of frantically "urgent" hard work...that doesn't pay off in actual accomplishment. A group of people practically on their knees, begging for their manager to actually--you know--manage them On every single project, it's like no one is driving! Considering that on any project to which I'm assigned, I am going to be the lowest-ranked, lowest-paid person on the team--why am I the only one with a view of the big picture and a sense of urgency? And the only solution they can see is to shovel on more layers of bureaucratic busywork.

You know--a good clue to your manager's complete inability to manage is when he believes the solution to every problem is to have staff work overtime. I'm no stranger to management types--from my parents, to myself, to the dozens of people I've worked under in the last 45 years. And one thing I know is this--For a real manager, PAID OVERTIME IS NEVER, EVER THE FUCKING SOLUTION. Man, do I miss the days of BestBoss, and even the days working for RetiredBoss.