Thinking on Thursday: FRUSTRATION

I am in such an annoyed place right now.

When I switched to the full-time job I have now, it had a lot of perks – I have 3 to 4 days off every week because I work longer days, I technically get paid more, and since I’m basically sitting here by myself answering the phone and checking trailers into the yard, I had a lot of time to read, watch DVD’s, etc while working. It’s a sweet gig.

And in some ways, it still is. I work Friday through Sunday and every other Thursday. That means that most of my work days are weekends, and Saturdays and Sundays are usually pretty slow. Not as many phone calls coming in from drivers, and not nearly as much traffic here in the lot. But Thursdays and Fridays have become BRUTAL. No matter how much sleep I get before coming to work, I end up getting completely frustrated, angry, and hostile during my shift because it’s SO much busier than it used to be. A lot of jobs have moved to my company’s location and that’s great and all for the company, but it sucks big time for me. There’s definitely a lot more trailers coming in and out than we used to have, and OHMYGOD THE EFFING PHONE CALLS. Just sitting here trying to eat my salad this morning, the phone rang 7 times in about 10 minutes. Add to that the 3 trailers going out, and the driver that came in here to use our microwave, and I got so irritated I threw out my salad even though I’d only had a couple bites. There are times of the day when I have 3 phone calls coming in all at the same time, plus trailers coming in. I don’t mind busy, but I literally cannot stand the phone ringing every damn 30 seconds. It drives me crazy. Plus, in between calls and such I’d just be sitting here, so of course I try to go online or read a book. I used to be able to sit here and read for 15 minute stretches at a time between calls – now that’s really rare during the last 7 hours or so of my shift.

So basically, besides this being a rant about how I now HATE my job on weekdays and I want to go all Office Space on the stupid phone, it’s frustrating me because it’s seriously screwing with my reading. I don’t get a lot of free time after work to read – there’s housework to do, blogging, errands, sleep, etc. And my days off are often annoyingly just as busy. So the only big chunks of reading time I get are when I’m at work. Sure, in the beginning of my shift between about 2 am and 7 am it’s relatively slow, but that’s also the time it’s dark out and I’m the most drowsy, so I tend to watch DVD’s or go online during those hours to stay awake. Which means I’m trying to read during the other half of my shift, which now is about twice as busy as it used to be. And nothing makes me get all stabby more than not even being able to finish a damn paragraph in between calls. Also, my busy-ness and bad mood at work makes me less productive – I’m always so behind in reading and commenting on blogs, answering emails, even tweeting is just beyond me some days. It’s sad.

I have one idea on how to make my days off more productive reading & blogging-wise, and that’s to quit Second Job soon. I only work one 4-hour shift there a week, and I actually kind of enjoy it – it’s a nice, active 4 hours and I really don’t want to give up my 40% off employee discount and the other bonus employee incentives, but that one shift really does through a wrench in my days off. I used to be able to get up in the morning, make coffee and read blogs, maybe read a book for a while, and then go start my day. I don’t get to do that on the day I work, and that shift taking up the majority of my day means that other chores and stuff get pushed to my other days off, which then makes those days more busy, etc. I miss being able to lay around the house and read and relax. So, sometime in the next month or so I think I’m going to quit there. I spend more in the store than I make there anyways.

So, this is also kind of an apology, because I don’t have anything to review at the moment. I’m still in the beginning of Red Mars – I’m thinking about DNF-ing it. It’s such a good premise and I was enjoying it at first, but my reading of it has been so spotty and the part I’m at is a bit boring, and I’m not even looking forward to picking it up again. And I WANT to be reading, just not that. So I may set it aside and start something else today. Hopefully if I can get my reading mojo back this weekend, I’ll come back to it.

So, that’s my thoughts for today. I’m completely frustrated at how much busier my job is now and how it’s affecting both my mood and my reading. Grrr.

Hope everyone has a good day today.

~Sarah