Meetings, A Necessary Evil that Accomplish Nothing

Well, I can honestly say I'm so thankful that I have John, Baron and my books to turn to when work meetings go to hell in a handbasket. Last night's was a doozy and wound up with me in tears, having to leave the director's office before I totally embarassed myself. Things are stressful at work for everybody, and while our jobs aren't in danger, things are changing and we're having to be more mindful of where the hospital's money is spent. That means overtime -- something we've all counted on as a constant in the 10 years I've worked there. Getting rid of overtime means changing schedules, ones that have been set for over 15 years. And since I'm the youngest supervisor on the block, it only goes to say that I'm catching it from all sides -- my co-supervisors, my employees, and my director. My meltdown was not because of scheduling adjustments, it was because of one ugly accusation of being called a liar by one of my coworkers, another supervisor, a woman I have butted heads with several times. And I've about had my fill.

This event will be followed by about a month of the silent treatment, which works for me. One thing I have learned, I will not be working on anymore schedules or making any schedule recommendations beyond my own, which is how I wound up in last night's position. I may be a lot of things, a softie one of them, but being called a liar is a hard pill to swallow. Especially when everyone in that room has said in the past that this woman is demanding and unreasonable, fixing things to benefit her without thinking of others at the best of times, but nothing is ever done about it.

Anyway, on to the reason I'm so thankful that I have John, Baron, and my books to get lost in. When I got home last night, I wasn't accused of anything more than taking things to heart too much and given a big hug. I quickly got into my pjs, ate the take-out I'd brought home for us, and got into my current book, the newest by Beverly Barton. Isn't it great that no matter what's going on in your life, you can always count on the characters in any given book to have it so much worse sometimes?

The last book I finished, HIGH NOON by Nora Roberts, was a book that took me away and now I'm left with getting over the guilt of holding onto it for my keeper shelf. See, I want to thin things out around here, and I've been steadily giving away books as I finish them, or throwing away the ARCs I've read for review. But this hardback book by La Nora is staying with me.

I'm working on a quick review for the blog, but just looked at this post and realized how long it is. Review will be in a separate post so nobody's eyes will glaze over, if I have any readers left by now.