Work Stress - ARRRGGGGHHHH!

[Bippity]

OK fellow working women of the world - let's get that work-related stress out of our systems....

Here's mine right now:

I have a MAJOR personnel problem going on here now & can't talk to anybody here about it (they've all left for a 3-day conference & I'm the only one who didn't go 'cause I have a baby - oh goody !) - it's under review with the attorney to see if we should fire this girl (I think we should). If word leaks out about what she did my whole department will look BAD, BAD, BAD! This girl's supervisor is distraught and embarassed and it's really depressing, frustrating and infuriating all around!

:Puke

So... how's your stress level?

[1jooj]

I went in Monday to talk to my boss about transitioning OUT of my job, and HE WAS GONE to a conference, won't be back until TODAY!

We're supposed to have a meeting today, working on a very important presentation, and MY SON IS SICK!

Maybe I can make it in for the meeting, but I don't know. In my case, I was hired on PT to keep a department afloat. The department used to be 2 FTers. Now it's just me. Needless to say, I cannot put in enough hours to get the work done. I need to discuss getting someone hired on ASAP so I can be out by July!

Aaaaaaaarrrgh! Can't discuss it if I can't get in!

[Harper]

Stress level: mid to high. We are about to move our offices. Right now, my train drops me off in the basement of the building I work in where I have a nice office with a door that closes and a great big window. In our new offices, I will share an office with two others AND it is a 15 minute walk from my train. This will add another 30 minutes to an already long communte. I will miss my privacy. I am supposed to be really happy about this as we are moving from a modern, sterile office building to a nice, charming old brownstown. BUT, I would work in the train concourse to save the extra commute time. I'm already away from home for nearly ten hours, lets add another 1/2 hour to that.

The fact that we are getting ready to move and are preparing for our biennial convention and I still have time to post on Mothering:

[Geofizz]

Four manuscript/proposal deadlines in the next three and a half weeks.

'Nuf said. Closing Mozilla, opening Word.

[Patchy Dragon]

I keep reminding myself 3 more months, 3 more months. I am surprised I am not bald with the stress of work and pregnancy... I am totally sympathetic, believe me!

[kofduke]

Well, no stress at my actual job...I haven't had any work to do for weeks. But, I've been looking for a new job, which is getting frustrating!

[Lucky Charm]

Not a whole lot of stress at work.

But school is an entirely different ball of wax. Major project due, and my final next Tuesday. Then, in the 4 weeks after, i need to do 30 hours of clinical time, 2 major papers, a case study and 10 on-line quizzes, and another project....a 15 minute power point presentation.

It doesn't help that i am terrified, simply beside myself with fear about going up in front of a group. No mind that these people are my friends, understand and sympathize with my fear and root me on the whole time. I literally can feel their positive vibes. still, I'm a mess, and wind up with hives.

Thats probably my biggest worry. i am such a baby!

Stress level: High

[HoneymoonBaby]

8.5 months pregnant, and I'm in the office. It's busy as hell, and we have our board meeting AND a Congressional hearing on our primary legislation tomorrow. Not to mention all the other stuff I'm normally responsible for. Stress level: Rising.

[mirlee]

--Two publications deadlines with one due in about a week and a half
--staff appriasals are due on Friday and no one has given them to me yet
--have to write my own faculty assessment due by June
--conference presentation due for June
--the class I am teaching for Summer session starts on Monday
--20 researcher calls this week already all with deadlines of by next Monday
-- problems with the photography lab that prints my work
-- I am matron of honor in a wedding and planning the bridal shower and a tragedy has befallen the bride (her mom died on Friday)
--planning my grandmother's 90th birthday party
--planning a dinner for synagoge for this Friday
--I was just asked to run for the congregation board---again
--we are going to visit all the grandparents this weekend
--Sunday is Mother's Day.

[Lucky Charm]

This thread got me thinking about my past stress levels at work. And i am under alot of stress right now. But i must share one stress story. about 2 years ago, i cared for a teenager who was hit by a train in the CVICU where i worked for 4 days (fri, sat, sun, mon). I woke up on tuesday morning with an achey jaw....an i couldnt open my mouth! So i called the dentist who told me to come in right away. within two hours of him checking me, i was in an oral surgeons office having 4 teeth pulled. it seeem that i was so stressed that i clenched my jaw....so tight i locked it, and cracked my teeth!

In case anyone is wondering....the young man lived. he's in college now. And he remembers me!

[Bippity]

It's so nice to know I'm not alone! I just keep saying this too shall pass. In 100 years nobody will remember this. (OK, this current thing they might remember for 20-30 years, but not 100) :LOL!

Let's get it out - come on everybody all together now....

Grrrrrrr.......

[Lucky Charm]

:LOL

[singermom]

I have to give a pretty big deal presentation today, although the number of V-Ps in the room just decreased from two to zero, so I'm a little better with it. My boss will be there, and he's pretty supportive, and will jump in if it looks like I am floundering. I'm nervous about the technical details--it's one of those meetings that is run on the Web, and I'm concerned about getting all the connections up and running correctly.

Bigger stress is coming from the fact that there are no less than three huge projects coming down the pike for me this summer, and nothing that I can seem to get my arms around in advance (two of them are top secret). So I'm stuck waiting for now--the flurry of activity will probably set off right when I am out on vacation!

Stress level: medium (but I'm probably in denial...)

Good luck all you hard working mamas!

[Lucky Charm]

singermom, good luck on your presentation today. Denial is good. an ocean view is even better....

here is a toast to well done projects and deadlines that are met!

[Nate]

Originally Posted by Geofizz

Closing Mozilla, opening Word.

Damn, you're good Wendy! Every day I tell myself that I'll do more work than posting. Yesterday I came close, but I still think I made 10 posts...

Stress level, low though it shouldn't be. And I feel like venting, so here goes...Our library is moving into a new building & merging w/ 2 others in less than a month. Our offices are supposed to be packed up no later than next Friday, and I've packed exactly 1/2 of a file box and have taken nothing down from my walls & bulletin boards.

The major professional conference starts 5/21 in DC, I'm going (accompanied by dh & dd) but we'll all be staying w/ dh's aunt in Chevy Chase to save money (the conference rate at the Hilton is $210 A NIGHT), I have a poster to present which is NOT done, and have to figure out how to get myself, my family, our gear, and the poster & handouts across the country w/o it getting lost on the way.

And I applied for a managerial position here but didn't get an interview. Fine, whatever--except that I then found out that the search committee was asked to select their top 2-3 candidates for interview. Well, I was tied for #3 apparently (although I'm not supposed to know that). I probably would've edged out someone else, except that another internal candidate from a different dept. was also right up there in the 2nd tier, and the committee couldn't make an argument as to why my experience should be more valuable than hers.

This would be fine if the people they selected to interview were any good, but I know one of the people, and she's a micro-manager. Another person already interviewed, and . Just not very impressive. So basically there's one person left who's a viable candidate (I hope), and if she's not good then they go back to the 2nd tier and select candidates. Which is good for me (probably, although I shouldn't count my chickens), but it's annoying to have to go through all these other people first.

Ahh well, I know these things are part of professional life, but still...

And I applied for positions at other institutions, and if called for interviews they'll either be at the conference or in June, right in the middle of our bldg move.

And we got a new toilet at home, which is great except that the old one was original to the house (that is, 70 yrs old & huge & a water-waster) and was bolted to the wall, which means that now we have this big ugly square where we'll need to replaster & paint at some point.

So I think I must be in denial, b/c I really should be stressed, but I just am not...

Okay, closing Mozilla, opening Power Point (she says, optimistically...)

[singermom]

Thanks for the good wishes, and especially the ladies!

I'm pleased to say that the presentation went well, although my fear of the technical difficulties was well-founded...as luck would have it, I ended up getting hit with that new weird virus that continually reboots your machine right at the time the presentation was supposed to start! We had brought a back-up lap top, so all was well, but I was a little rattled, so I ended up relying on my notes quite a bit, but it didn't sound like it.

Anyway, we got a good reception, my boss was pleased, the group asked good questions, and now we just have more work to do...the reward for good work being more work, don't you know...

Nate, good luck with the conference and getting everything done--I'm sorry things are still weird with all the department politics in your library...

Mia

[Nate]

Hey, glad to hear the presentation went well--and good for you for bringing back-up technology! I do the same thing--I generally will have my presentation sitting on about 3 different storage types, plus lots of back-up hard copy.

Eh., politics. At least I generally like the people I work with...

[Lucky Charm]

I generally will have my presentation sitting on about 3 different storage types, plus lots of back-up hard copy

Me too. i for clarification, i dont do presentations for work, as i am a nurse, but for school, i put it on two floppy's, a disc, and i send it to my hotmail account. just in case.

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by Nate

Hey, glad to hear the presentation went well--and good for you for bringing back-up technology! I do the same thing--I generally will have my presentation sitting on about 3 different storage types, plus lots of back-up hard copy.

Yeah! Glad to hear it went well. Yup, about the backups... I attended to a job interview talk once and the projector wasn't focusing properly. The guy's slides were super detailed images, requiring you be able to distinguish small changes in line. No back up slides. No printout. Nada.

He didn't get the job.

After seeing that, I take my own computer to talks, then put a copy of the presentation on my public space, write it to CD and printout hard copies.

[jempd]

Well, this was fun reading about different types of job-stress and levels, distracting me from my own job-stress, which this week was abnormally high. I can't go into any detail without describing job which is too boring to do to anybody.

Mirlee, got a weird sort of stress-jolt reading your list.

And to those who are pregnant and working . . . I've been there and you do have my empathy.