The work situation, and so forth

Gosh I feel like I just have no inspiration to write lately, and that sucks!  I'm sure my muse is missing due to work craziness.  Not that I blame her, if I were a muse I wouldn't want to hang around me at work either! Seems like it's all I think about lately even when I have a good day, like yesterday.  Before I tell you about it, a quick refresher: I have a new female boss, let's call her Chilly since she's kind of frigid.  We both used to report to Mr. Big but her title was recently changed so I report to her now, though I still have a good rapport with Mr. Big and talk to him frequently.

Okay.  So.  We're having some serious staffing issues with the loss of one of my girls a few weeks ago.  (Loss is a poor choice of words - sounds like she died, she didn't, she was fired.)  Her position is proving harder to fill than an incontinent bladder, not to mention it's really more than a one-person job, and the three of us left over are struggling to make things work.  Literally none of us can call in sick much less take any time off, plus we're having to work a lot of overtime (which is great for my underlings who get paid for it!  But not so much for me).  I'm having to fill in for operational stuff instead of actually managing the department, and my work is suffering as a result.  Basically the whole department is hanging on by a very fine thread that could snap at any moment.

As you can imagine this has caused a LOT of anxiety in our normally even-keeled department.  Chilly's new position was supposed to take some of the pressure off, but she's been sick (yeah, no problem with her calling in) and dealing with family stuff so she's been no help at all and MIA more often than not.  So yesterday I laid it all out for Mr. Big.  It's been 3 weeks and there have been zero applicants for the open position.  We can't keep working like this.  I asked for a temp and at first Mr. Big sort of laughed, but I kept pushing and lo and behold, ten minutes later he was meeting with the CFO.  Directly after that Mr. Big informed me we were approved for a temp! By the beard of Zeus, I am so glad I opened my big mouth.  Please keep your fingers crossed that they find someone even just halfway decent very soon.  I already know I won't be able to take the two days off I requested (and desperately need; just ask my aching, tense neck), but at least maybe we'll be covered for one girl's jury duty and the other's kid's dentist appointment.

Mr. Big and I also had a very frank discussion about the staffing in general for the department.  I pretty much told him in so many words that he risks losing employees.  So we brainstormed some ideas, and I think one of them could work.  It's going to take some finagling, but if it does I think it will take off at least some of the pressure that we feel even when we're fully staffed.

***End long, boring commentary; bless you if you read the whole thing.***

In personal news, I've been working on a project with my friend A for the past couple of weeks.  I can't wait to tell you about it, but that's a post for another time.  We're still in the very early stages and I'd rather wait until I have more to tell, which will probably be in the next 2 to 3 weeks.  But I'm very, very excited!

Also, Hubs spent his day off yesterday putting up drywall in the garage/man cave.  Which means one of my "to do" items is being worked on!  Okay I realize I'm cheating because I haven't personally done any work on it, but Lord knows I eventually will and it still counts as progress!  Once the drywall is up and painted, we'll be installing the storage cabinets that have been waiting patiently in the middle of the garage for the past 2 years.  That means one day I'll have a clean surface to fold laundry on!  And like, a place to store my detergent and whatnot!  And who knows, I may even be able to park my car in there some day.  Dream big, I always say...