Expositional moment

"Sagittarius
November 22 - December 20
Stress from whatever work pressures you've been experiencing might cause you to feel a bit under the weather. Yet, you're probably unwilling to take some time off, dear Sagittarius, because you're too concerned about finishing what you're doing in a timely manner. It's important to remember that you won't finish it at all if you exhaust yourself. Move slowly and steadily, and take time out to relax a little, and all will go more smoothly than you think."

Thank you, msn.com horoscopes for summing up my week, actually, my entire month.

Warning- long entry with much exposition, griping and bitterness follows.

For those of you just tuning in, let me fill you in on my current situation. I work in a branch office of a large-ish company which has gone through quite a bit of restructuing and revamping in the two years I've been there. I've been working for this company longer than, say 98% of the rest of the employees- including the president and nearly all of the management. For awhile it felt like "Survivor" the office edition.
My office has (or I should say is supposed to have) three people. Two account managers and me, the assistant, the go-fetch girl, the have- you- seen- the whatever-it-is lady of the desk. Only currently, there are two of us doing the work of three, and honestly somtimes I think four would be a good idea. Just occasionally, not full-time, just someone to answer the flaming phone so I can get some real work done once in awhile. The new guy is coming (or so I'm told), he should be in by the end of the month. We get to train him, but that's gonna be another issue- I'm sure I'll get there when he starts.
Anyway- it's been busy. I've been brining work home, going in after hours, and generally, I'm exhausted. Tired. Considering looking for new employment if things don't re-arrange after the new guy starts. I need a vacation, so does my boss- she hasn't had more than a day or afternoon off since she started over a year ago.
I despise leaving things half done, I was always one to pull the all-nighter to get the paper done in one setting so it didn't drag out. Leaving a project mid-whatever to fix something else irks me to no end, and that's all I've been doing lately. Start project Q from top of (a currently rather large)stack. Stop. Urgent e-mail- go find contract. Reply to e-mail. Start Q again. Stop. Phone call. Find document X, fax to secret location. Start. Stop. Phone again, this time about the fax, could I please find documents Y and Z to go with X? Yup. Faxing. Where was I? Ah- start again. Boss calls out- "When you have a minute (aka- now) can you run project W?". *&%@! Stop. Grab W from bottom of stack, return Q to top of stack, start W. Stop. Rince, repeat, and run screaming into the night.

Am I luckier than most- yes. I have a job that pays the bills and for school. It's realtively easy work, if time-consuming and stressful, and whist I don't really like my immediate co-workers, I don't come home in tears. I'm getting to the point where I do what I can, remind my boss I'm only one person, and try to let it go. Is there something better out there for me- possibly, probably, but I've gotten to the point where the devil you know....

I am alive.
I have friends who feed me comfort food, buy me drinks and listen to my whining with infinite patience.
My cat loves me.
And I think that makes it a lot better.