First day back at work

Captain’s Log, Stardate 01.05.05

My first day back at work wasn’t too bad. There really wasn’t anything for me to do except read a few papers and attend group meeting, so that was nice. I might be switched to a new group, but I feel bad because that means someone else must work for my supervisor.

A girl from another site is coming to work for my group at the end of January, and she’s really nice, but I think they might shaft her and make her work for my supervisor. Problem is, a few years ago she worked for my supervisor at the other site and was really stressed out, just like me. But she isn’t as insistent as I am so I don’t know if people knew there was a problem. I wonder if she would speak up if she discovered she’d be working for her old supervisor. There must have been a good reason she wanted to transfer out of her old group, so I wonder what the other site supervisor is like.

Anyway, the other people at work were really sympathetic towards me because they had filled in for me while I was gone and saw first-hand how stressful the situation was. They already knew I was overworked before, but actually experiencing it themselves raised their empathy to new heights.

I shouldn’t have complained so much about my supervisor, because my coworkers already knew the situation and my telling them more stories didn’t add anything except more juicy gossip. It was hard, though, because they had lots of stories to tell to me.

My supervisor took me to lunch today. She’s a very nice woman when she wants to be, she’s just unreasonable when it comes to workload. My coworker told me that while I was gone, my supervisor had been flabbergasted by the long work hours. But somehow she never realized that if I were there, I would have been the one doing all that work, and it never occurred to her that the workload was too much for one person.

I am still praying for patience. A devotional last night from “Streams in the Desert” really touched me. God speaks to us in the quiet times, gives us His word of promise, then steps away and lets the trials come. It is a test of our faith, to still believe the promises and not focus on the difficulties. Boy, is it.

Writing: Got no writing done yesterday because I ended up watching both Star Trek Voyager discs. I felt mildly guilty, but then again, it was my last night at home and I should be able to spend it how I want to. Hopefully I’ll continue today to read Maass’ book and apply it to my wip.

Diet: Had Indian food buffet today, but exercised some self-control. I think it was around 700 calories, maybe 800. I’ll eat broccoli and healthy things tonight.