Jump, shout, let it all out
These are the things I can do without.
Disclaimer: I realize that in every one of these cases, I may somehow be at fault. About 12:30 this afternoon I realized I was hating everybody and everything, which was a clue that I was getting overwhelmed :-)
Someone in your office hires a new person. Nobody announces it. It takes you a while to realize that the guy you thought was someone's 15 year old son is actually a coworker.
Bureaucracy. Almost my entire career has been working in higher education at mostly public universities, and dealing with bureaucracy and bureaucrats. I worked for years in student financial aid. To some degree, I prided myself on being a bureaucracy buster for students. I would get them through the red tape and the bullshit. Maybe that's why I get so incredibly frustrated when I have to get myself through other bureaucracies in life. Insurance companies and medical stuff in general can be very painful. Between my MS, two kids with tonsil issues right now, and a car accident, I am at my limit. :-) (Positive note: the doctor's office I am on hold with right now is playing The Beatles as their on-hold muzak, so things could be worse. The fidelity sucks, however...) Also, at times like this, I start wishing we had names that I didn't have to spell so frequently .
Internal Audit. For me, Internal Audit at the university is a pain in my butt. It seems to me like IA is the ultimate CYA organization. "We have to make sure we cover our ass by making sure you cover your ass and we'll figure out every single way that you aren't. That's our job."
For someone who hates bureaucracy, it's a clusterf*ck. For the record, I don't really know what a clusterf*ck is and I'm not sure I want to.
People who drive. And lord knows I'm one of them. I can't help but notice how selfish and 'me first' we can be when drive. It can really be exhausting. And that is here in Boulder, Colorado. I can only imagine how it is back in NY/NJ where I used to drive. I really do try to remember to be kind on the road. And a lot of time, I can do it. The hard thing for me is to have generosity of spirit when someone does something stupid to me. I tend to think the worst of them. My friend Paul says "I just remember that they might be on their way to the hospital or late for work or their kid has an emergency." I'm not that evolved yet. Maybe I can get there.
Certain types of whining. Especially from adults, from even sometimes from my kids. I realize that I'm whining right now, so I don't know if I'm really allowed to whine about people whining. It gets to me most at work. Most of the kind of whining that annoys me is the kind that is not delivered with any kind of possible solution suggested, or is just driven by fear. I'd much rather hear someone just flat out say that "I'm afraid my team isn't strong enough for the projectl I'd like to talk to Boris and Fredonia about it." than to hear the less direct version when there are ten thousand little complaints about this and that.
Politics. I'm sorry to say this, but I've had it. No, no, I'll still vote. Gotta do that. But working up emotions over these people and issues? No, I'm done. I'm afraid to put any investment into Barack for fear that he will disappointment me. I think it is human nature that ruins politics for me. There's no changing that, I don't think. I'll still have an opinion on things but I don't know that I'm interested in putting any money forward for it. I need to feel confident that money I'm giving is going towards actually doing something. So I'm leaning more towards the more apolitical. The food bank. That spend their money on doing something rather than trying to get the politicians to do something. I may change my mind at some point, but for now, I'm backing off. I have a low tolerance for bullshit.
OK, enough for now. But I'll be back.
Disclaimer: I realize that in every one of these cases, I may somehow be at fault. About 12:30 this afternoon I realized I was hating everybody and everything, which was a clue that I was getting overwhelmed :-)
Someone in your office hires a new person. Nobody announces it. It takes you a while to realize that the guy you thought was someone's 15 year old son is actually a coworker.
Bureaucracy. Almost my entire career has been working in higher education at mostly public universities, and dealing with bureaucracy and bureaucrats. I worked for years in student financial aid. To some degree, I prided myself on being a bureaucracy buster for students. I would get them through the red tape and the bullshit. Maybe that's why I get so incredibly frustrated when I have to get myself through other bureaucracies in life. Insurance companies and medical stuff in general can be very painful. Between my MS, two kids with tonsil issues right now, and a car accident, I am at my limit. :-) (Positive note: the doctor's office I am on hold with right now is playing The Beatles as their on-hold muzak, so things could be worse. The fidelity sucks, however...) Also, at times like this, I start wishing we had names that I didn't have to spell so frequently .
Internal Audit. For me, Internal Audit at the university is a pain in my butt. It seems to me like IA is the ultimate CYA organization. "We have to make sure we cover our ass by making sure you cover your ass and we'll figure out every single way that you aren't. That's our job."
For someone who hates bureaucracy, it's a clusterf*ck. For the record, I don't really know what a clusterf*ck is and I'm not sure I want to.
People who drive. And lord knows I'm one of them. I can't help but notice how selfish and 'me first' we can be when drive. It can really be exhausting. And that is here in Boulder, Colorado. I can only imagine how it is back in NY/NJ where I used to drive. I really do try to remember to be kind on the road. And a lot of time, I can do it. The hard thing for me is to have generosity of spirit when someone does something stupid to me. I tend to think the worst of them. My friend Paul says "I just remember that they might be on their way to the hospital or late for work or their kid has an emergency." I'm not that evolved yet. Maybe I can get there.
Certain types of whining. Especially from adults, from even sometimes from my kids. I realize that I'm whining right now, so I don't know if I'm really allowed to whine about people whining. It gets to me most at work. Most of the kind of whining that annoys me is the kind that is not delivered with any kind of possible solution suggested, or is just driven by fear. I'd much rather hear someone just flat out say that "I'm afraid my team isn't strong enough for the projectl I'd like to talk to Boris and Fredonia about it." than to hear the less direct version when there are ten thousand little complaints about this and that.
Politics. I'm sorry to say this, but I've had it. No, no, I'll still vote. Gotta do that. But working up emotions over these people and issues? No, I'm done. I'm afraid to put any investment into Barack for fear that he will disappointment me. I think it is human nature that ruins politics for me. There's no changing that, I don't think. I'll still have an opinion on things but I don't know that I'm interested in putting any money forward for it. I need to feel confident that money I'm giving is going towards actually doing something. So I'm leaning more towards the more apolitical. The food bank. That spend their money on doing something rather than trying to get the politicians to do something. I may change my mind at some point, but for now, I'm backing off. I have a low tolerance for bullshit.
OK, enough for now. But I'll be back.
Comments
Ha, that makes me sound much more evolved than I actually am. What I mean is, I try to remember that, mostly for my own comfort, since getting angry is so unpleasant.
I do not always succeed.
Maybe a laugh would be good, or some chicken.
Try this for a laugh. Of course, you might not see the humor in it:
http://dogswhosmelledmusic.blogspot.com