That time of year

It’s the time of year in my office when pretty much everyone is ready to kill each other.  The number of federal holidays has dwindled, we’ve just finished the end of a fiscal year, we’ve been spending way too much time together trying to accomplish everything that needs to get accomplished and there is no escape.  Emails are getting shorter and more tense, phone calls are more of an exchange of barking than actual talking, every time you ask someone for something it’s like taking your life in your hands.

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Thank goodness for vacations.

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The last month or two has seen almost everyone I work with taking a week’s vacation.  It’s been an interesting study in human behavior.  So far, each person on the way out has been cranky and overwhelmed and generally unpleasant to be around (see first paragraph).  You can tell that they’re at the breaking point where something might just send them right over the edge of sanity.  More than once, a person has sat down in my office with a look of total defeat and said something along the lines of, “I just don’t feel like I can do one more thing right now.  I’m going to lose my mind.”  They leave for vacation almost crippled with stress and fatigue, a mere shell of their former selves.

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Then they come back.  Refreshed and with renewed energy, suddenly ready to tackle all the things that seemed too overwhelming to think about before they left.  Their heads are clear, the path before them has fallen into place, new projects are popping up all over, and it’s go time.

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Now, this is great for those individuals as well as the office as a whole.  Productivity increases, more work gets done, we look good and the company thrives.  But it has also resulted in increasing the level of stress and desperation in the poor suckers who are at the end of the vacation lineup.  I believe one of my coworkers has pushed herself as close to that breaking point as is possible without going over it and 5:00 this afternoon really can’t come soon enough.  I’m concerned for this coworker as well as the rest of us (you know, the two of us that AREN’T on vacation today).  I’m not sure when the explosion will come, or in what form it will take, but I am keeping my fingers crossed it happens after work or some other time when I’m not around.

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As for me, I’ve already broken a couple times in the last month or so.  It’s not pretty, and I fear there are couple people out there I’ve made afraid for my overall mental health. :)  My ‘real’ vacation won’t come until November, but for now I’ve got my sights firmly set on Thursday evening when I take off (again) for Michigan, this time with a couple days off work, some new dresses and the promise of what should be a VERY good party to get me through.  And I can rest easy in the knowledge that when I get back everyone else will be more pleasant to be around.

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As far as this weekend goes, let’s hear it for sleep sleep sleeping and seeing The Dark Knight!!