October 20, 2007

Insomnia = Rage

Haven't been sleeping well, and it showed at work today.

We have a morning meeting every day, going through what we are supposed to do during the day. This morning one of my co-workers took a long hard look at me.

"Are you tired today?"

It's not a question. It's a statement. I concur. "Yeah, a little. Some more coffee and I'm good to go though - no worries."

I wasn't good to go. Still ain't. Lack of sleep will do all kinds of strange things to a guy. Not only does one lose focus, the ability to be sharp and intelligent - and as I've proven over the last couple of blogs; It messes with your ability to write.

One more thing it does... I don't know if it's just me or if this is true for most of us. It causes me to become aggravated for nothing. And, less than an hour after opening the store today... the shit started hitting the fan.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of what set me off, but it all started when I wanted to grab a quick breakfast sandwich and drink some orange juice to get my day started. We communicate through walkie talkies (it's a big store, and I usually operate in the stock room), and my boss was at the cash register, nagging me constantly with questions about whether or not we had certain items in stock, whether certain customers had recieved what they ordered last week and what not.

I ate about two bites out of my sandwich, and then had to leave it behind and start running back and forth. After about half an hour I had finally found the time to finish eating it, and then the orange juice was gone. I had no idea where I had put it, and I was thirsty as hell... and that walkie talkie of mine simply would not shut up.

This - the missing juice, the constant barrage of questions for me to answer, the continuous running back and forth and then the final straw - a carton that was stuck and simply would not budge no matter how hard I pulled at it. By the time I had gotten it loose, I was absolutely rabid with rage.

That same co-worker who commented my tired look during the morning meeting came to my rescue... really she did. She stretched her hand out to me and asked for the walkie talkie.

"Go get yourself a cup of coffee, sit down for 5 minutes... and breathe."

I did. For 15 minutes. Didn't help one bit.

3 comments:

Jay said...

Usually when I get that way I try to take a step back and do some breathing exercises to calm myself down. Sometimes it works.

Beautifully Profound said...

Or you could go the route of smashing the walkie talkie into tiny little bits. :-) Maybe you should suggest a punching bag in the break room, you would think every retail store would have one for employees to bash around and get out their angers on. I for one would adore something of that sort.

Ah well, get thee arse to bed early tonight.




And as a side note, yah, Australia, all for love, things apparently went well for Mik today. So with any luck February is our month. Which it bloody well be because it will be a year February first since we were last in the same country together. I do not recommend long distance relationships.

R.E.H. said...

Jay: Yeah, breathing exercises are good, but they didn't do anything for me yesterday. I'm in a much better mood today though :)

Beautifully Profound: Love the punching bag idea... I will suggest it to my boss when I get back to work on Tuesday.

I have also had a long distance relationship once (not that long), and it was hell. Well, I guess me and her were not really in love, because when we did meet, we bickered - when we were apart, everything was great. I do wish the two of you good fortunes.