#he didn't send the goblins but that won't free him from at least a little bit of blame and anger

[thessalian]

Thess vs Knowing Your Employees

I'm not doing very well, and I think everybody knows it. Like, not people who read my Tumblr or people I talk to on Discord or anything like that. I mean everybody.

Update on the overtime thing - apparently today was a fairly slow day in terms of reporting, so when I called at 3:30 as I was asked to, there were only about 130 dictations in the queue.

(Note: that sounds like a lot, and it is, but it was 450 on Tuesday.)

Things were chill enough at the office that Scruffman actually forgot he asked me to ring him to check in about the workload. I think that might have something to do with having emailed him a little earlier in the day about a significant issue with someone's dictation.

(Further note: our doctors use wireless headset microphones to dictate - Bluetooth, I think. Anyway, sometimes they end up sitting too far from their computers for a decent connection, and when that connection dies, the transcription software defaults to using whatever microphone is handy - which in our machines means one built into the webcam. And of course, if they're sitting so far away that the wireless connection won't work, they're not going to be very audible over lab noise either. Bad enough when it's a regular dictation, but there were two urgent cases I had to send back because they were inaudible and you don't make guesses about someone's urgent liver biopsy. I swear, half the doctors don't have the foggiest clue how to use the equipment and it shows.)

Anyway, point is, I actually had voice chat with the man. I can generally sound pretty professional under even the worst circumstances, but that's only to people who haven't dealt with me regularly. Scruffman has heard my "I am in serious pain and sucking it up" voice a lot. And to his credit, I'm pretty sure he noticed me using it. Because when I asked if I was going to be needed for overtime with our typing queue as it was, he said, "It's actually been really quiet, so we should be okay! I mean ... some of them do go crazy in the late afternoon ... and sometimes they come in on Saturday ... but no; no, you're fine on your regular hours; we'll be okay".

In those elliptical pauses, I could hear the "Oh [Thess] does not sound well. Even if we're not fine, I can push [Temp] and [Goblin] a little harder on Monday, or we can work it out after [Thess] has had an actual break." I mean, I'm sure he does actually care, but there's also an awful lot of "Working [Thess] this hard is going to result in more sick leave and we really can't afford that right now, particularly not from the best worker the department has right now", and more than a little "[Thess] got reduced hours because of a disability and if [Thess] has to go on long-term sick again, Occupational Health is going to eat my head". So not purely altruistic motives, but at least he noticed.

That said, I'm still not doing well. While I did not have overtime, I did still have to go out to pick up some painkillers and a couple of bits and pieces. A bad idea during rush hour, but needed to get to things before they shut. Painkillers aside, I forgot to order carrots and I like carrots in my Japanese curry, which is very much on the menu this month. Carrot, potato, onion, and butternut squash. Might fill it out with some sweet potato too this time.

I did treat myself a little, though. Slightly longer travel time hurt, but it meant going to the big Tesco that does the gluten-free onion rings. And sirloin steak was on sale. So guess what I had for dinner? (Well, with potato salad and some veggie crudites with ranch dip; veggies are good.) It was a much-deserved treat, and thankfully didn't require a lot of effort.

I'd love to say I'm going to just relax tomorrow, and I sort of will, but if I have to go to the pharmacy for my prescription meds if I wake up early enough, and either way I should go to the big Sainsbury's to stock up on gluten-free pasta. It's a pain in the arse; Tesco has a great range of gluten-free products but their gluten-free pasta is bullshit, while Sainsbury's doesn't have quite the same selection but does the only really edible own-brand gluten-free pasta I've found so far. I hate having to go to like three different shops to get a full gluten-free shop stock-up.

Anyway, also there might be baking. I'm going to have to order more gluten-free flour already. But then again, two cakes, one loaf of gingerbread, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies and I'm still not through the entire bucket. So that's something.

To summarise: I am not doing well, I'm still using Saturday for as much recovery as possible (sad as missing a Saturday session makes me, I would not run well in this state), and I want cookies.

#Thess has a day job #Thess cooks