I'm really incredibly stressed out right
now. Before I go on, please .D.O .N.O.T
simply tell me to "calm down" and/or
"relax." obviously, I know I need to do
those things, as I am not a person...
What i'm asking is ways to do those
things.
I dont' know if i've ever mentioned what I
do for a living, but i'm a copy desk chief
at a newspaper. I oversee the copy desk,
which designs the paper, writes headlines
and edits stories. We are a very small
paper with a very small staff, and the
copy desk here wears a lot of hats.
There are 5 of us (including me). Well,
there are .S.U.P.P.O.S.E.D to be 5. A few
weeks ago, one of the copy editors quit...
He was sort of being pushed out by the
management over my head anyway - he was
sort of a screwup - but he ended up
quitting before he could get fired. It
wasn't fantastic being down a person, but
we worked out schedules and stuff, and it
was ok. Well, then two of the people
outside the copy desk who were helping us
do some work got other jobs and left...
Which pushed more work onto us.
Today, another copy editor quit. He's an
older guy who worked here a while back
(before I came here) but quit when they
started using a new system to design pages
because he just couldn't get a handle on
it. Well, he decided to come back, and
they hired him. I have mentioned to my
superiors that, due to his age, he doesn't
need to rely on good references or a
resume or anything like that and that I
was afraid that he had a
take-it-or-leave-it attitude with this
job. Well, today, while we were in a
manager's meeting, he apparently came in,
took whatever few personal items he had on
his desk and left. Without telling
anyone. He was supposed to work
tonight.
So, here I sit, more than 12 hours after I
got to work and likely to be here for
another hour, still. And I really don't
know how to do the work of 5 people with
just 3. Especially since one of the three
is new and doesn't know how to do
everything yet.
I want to cry. I want to strangle
someone. Most of all, I want to go home
and not come back. But I need the money
right now. My bf is working his way up in
his company really quickly, and we're
seriously discussing me not coming back to
work after logan is born. I just can't go
right now, but I don't know if I can
handle this for 18 more weeks. Also, i'm
just not the kind of person to screw over
my workplace and walk out on them when
they need me the most.
I just need some advice on what to do to
keep from getting too stressed. I know
it's bad for logan, but there's nothing I
can do about the situation except try
things to relax.
