Hell week

Twice a year at my place of employment, there are exceptionally busy times that I like to call "hell week." Last Friday marked the start of hell week for the month of August, and unfortunately it means that I'll be working 14 or so days in a row without a day off, including one day that is 13+ hours long.

Really it's not so bad, but I tend to have a lot of dread leading up to these long days. Since this is my 4th "opening," I've realized that each and every year gets a little easier. And even though I tend to dread working all day, once I'm there and doing something, the time tends to go by quickly. I think the worst part for me are the late nights when I get home after 9 p.m. My body still thinks that I have an entire evening's worth of time ahead of me, and I usually have a hard time falling asleep.

Today is "opening" day - when all of the incoming new students check-in and move into their rooms. My job during this day is "problem solver" - talking to angry parents and/or students who are unhappy with their room. In general, if I don't have to talk to anyone, then it's a good day for me. It means that everything was done right ahead of time. But sometimes there's just nothing that I can do to make people happy and it's frustrating.

I think the reason that I tend to dread this day is because all of the interactions that I have with people are negative. I don't usually get people coming up to me thanking me for their assignment, or for all of my hard. Nope - I only get people when they're angry.

So, I'm crossing my fingers that no one has to come to my office today! I would be more than happy to be in the office all day without a single visitor. And I hope that the rest of "hell week" goes off without a hitch.