The Nightmare that is the G-20 Summit

This is the week where the city of Pittsburgh will be hosting the G-20 summit.  I am basically uneducated about the event, but I know that the general idea is that world leaders of the 20 largest economies are going to meet for two days, lots of people are going to protest, and lots of streets and businesses are going to be closed.

My workplace, unfortunately, will not be closed.  When I heard about the G-20, I asked if I could use vacation days for those two days, since I already have a hellish commute and wanted to avoid something even worse.  However, my request was denied and not only am I not permitted to take off those days, but I have to work multiple 12 hour days in a row!!!  I am NOT an hourly employee, so all of my extra time is 100% uncompensated.  It is frustrating to say the least. 

I am not good at crisis management - as I wrote just the other day, I can barely keep it together when my dog is having a crisis, let alone a large group of people.  I don't understand protestors or their motivation for protesting, and honestly, I find the whole idea rather annoying.  There are a million ways to raise awareness about something - rioting and reeking havoc on a poor city selected by the government to host an event isn't it, in my humble opinion. 

Everyone here seems to be preparing for the worst, except for me.  Call me reactive, but I like to hope for the best and if the worst happens, then I'll deal with it at the time.  All of the planning and media attention only draws more attention to the matter and creates a greater sense of panic, which we really don't need right now.  I can't wait for this week to be over.  I've been saying that for weeks already, but now that's it's finally here and I know how much my life is going to be sucked in by being at work, it's even more so.  I am a person who greatly values a strong work/life balance.  Work is a big part of my life -simply because of the amount of time that I have to dedicate to it - but it is NOT my life, and sometimes when weeks like these come up, I feel like everyone expects work to be my life.  It is one of the main reasons that I generally don't hang out with co-workers outside of work - although I am easily able to control my on/off switch, I've found that others can't do it quite so easily, and since I'm not interested in talking about work outside of work, I avoid situations like those.

That said, the G-20 has been a nightmare from the beginning, but now that nightmare is becoming a reality.  I've already been warned that I might not get to go home, that I should bring an air-mattress and keep it in my car just in case.  That's probably a smart idea, but I'm going to hope for the best and just keep hope that I will make it home each night.  After 12 hour days, I am NOT interested in sleeping on an air mattress in my office.

Wish me luck....