What happened to my quiet time?

I can’t think in the mornings. To start out with, I am not a morning person. It is odd because since the time change Sunday, I’ve been waking up at 4:30, what would have been 5:30, which is earlier than I normally got up anyway.

The upside is that I can usually get to work early for some morning OT. The down side is that I start to drag long before lunch hour.

When we first moved to this new building, those of us who started at 7:30 had a very quiet office to work in. It was a peaceful start to get a jump on a productive day. Now it is a loud, noisy, bustling place at 7:30 am. It is annoying, distracting, and makes it impossible to get a good jumpstart on the day.

It doesn’t help that all the new people ever hired to replace anyone or to build up the numbers in the unit to deal with increasing business have all wanted to start at 7:30. So 8:00 people left and were replaced with 7:30 people. This doesn’t help the afternoon when we need coverage for the last half hour of the day. The newest hire wasn’t given a choice.

This is why I try to get to work extra early, so I can get my quiet time back. I need that peace to get my brain in gear before the distractions start, if I don’t then the distractions keep me from working as I want to. I find myself staring at the monitors trying to find that place of stillness and peace and balance from whence all effectiveness flows.

The unit next to us now is a recovery unit who are on the phones nearly as often as my unit. The problem is that most of them get to work even earlier than us. Some mornings they are working in silence and other mornings they are loud and boisterous. This means that even if I get to work early I can’t find my peaceful, quiet, time that gives me that edge the remainder of the day.

It doesn’t help that we are now using a TPA that is so bad that half of our complaint calls are all about them and 100% of the calls about the TPA are complaint calls. It is so stressful anymore that I dread opening a file and seeing the name that indicates the file went to the TPA. It’s enough that I’m contemplating job hunting and I really don’t want to do that. I’m finally making a decent wage and I don’t want to have to start over again at a starting wage.

If only I had my peace and quiet in the mornings once again and maybe I would have my equilibrium in place before the day started. But maybe even that would no longer help. I don’t rightly know anymore. I just have to take it one day at a time.

GRRRR- Pet Peeves for today . . . a rant in the making.

Today I’m very cranky.  I am very grumpy.  I’m finding everything annoying.

When laundry from the dryer is still wet.

Drivers who don’t think rain and fog is a good reason to slow down.

People who drive with their lights off in rain and fog.

Having to slam on my breaks (three times) on the drive to work because people are driving crazy.

Me before 10:00 am.

People talking in loud and energetic voices at 7:30 am.  I always enjoyed my quiet mornings before most of the staff got to work.  Only they have hired a very very very loud person for my unit who has my same start time.  I miss my calm, quiet, start to the workday.  Without it, it puts me on the wrong foot for the rest of the day.

Not being able to hear the callers with my headset cranked up because the loudest person now sits behind me.

Having tons of work but three of my co-workers spend half of the day in each others cubes  chatting.

Nosy people trying to get into my business while I’m trying to get work done, slowing me down and keeping me from concentrating.

Callers who don’t listen.  I asked for the city, not the road.  I asked for the DL, not the state.  I asked for the year, not the make.  I asked for my vehicle not your driver.  Basically, callers who answer my questions with completely different information.  Are they even listening to the questions?

Agents who call in a claim, ‘to get it started’, when they actually don’t have ANY of the info yet.

People who ask me how I am after I ask how I can help them.  That is not an appropriate response to my question.

People who assume I just asked them how they are when I never did.  Clearly, they didn’t actually hear anything I had just said to them.

Every time work provides ‘treats’ to the staff, it is cake and cookies, despite the aggressive ‘wellness’ program they have going on.  Wouldn’t fruit and veggies be better?  Talk about mixed messages.

Callers that are clearly insane.

The company using the same three horrible restaurants to cater special lunches.  The only saving grace is that the horrible Italian place does make amazing dinner rolls.  But I can only have one.

Everyone thinking that I like chocolate because ‘everyone’ likes chocolate even though I’ve spent years saying I’m not overly fond of it.

Constant headaches because the light levels in this office are insanely bright and the place is always too hot. (Although everyone else thinks it is cold.  I think they are nuts about that too.)

Hashtags.  I don’t mind tags.  I detest hashtags.  (I admit, I may be sinking to the level of irrationality.)

Photo for a Halloween hat. She may look witchy but I have no proof she is bitchy and can’t make a case for the words being equal.

Callers who won’t let me do anything to help them but won’t get off the phone until I solve their problems.

Books that have plot points that are never addressed by the end of the book.  Basically, every major motivating plot point in the novel I finished at lunch today.

People who use the word witch to substitute bitch.  I know enough witches who are not bitches to really resent that usage and find it personally offensive.

You know, I just want to boycott the rest of the week and read a few books, watch a ton of Netflix and do some cross-stitching.