We are quickly heading into what I like to call, the Dead Days. Our office doesn’t close over the festive season even though we are extremely quiet as most of our clients do close, or are away on holiday. I usually don’t take leave during this time of year as everywhere is extremely crowded, and we normally work shifts or half days anyway. However, this year I am feeling so mentally run down that I would’ve loved to take at least 2 weeks, but due to circumstances, I am only taking 3 days just before Christmas. At least with the extra public holiday we got, that makes it 1 week of not being at the office.
While it is mostly just great working with your best friend in an office where we are short-staffed and it is just us 2, when it comes to taking leave, even sick leave, it’s just awful. You see, if it was any other colleague I wouldn’t care if they are left alone in the office to do all the work or, like now, have to sit here the whole day with nothing to do and no-one to talk to. I would just take my leave and not think about it twice. But when it comes to your bestest best friend, that’s just not allowed (I checked the rule book). You have to care about them and take into consideration how absolutely crap it would be for them to be stuck in the office during the dead days, and that is how I came to only take 3 days off this year, because I would not have survived without at least a little break from this company.
This year I’m just not feeling christmas, despite my many, many efforts to get into the spirit of my favourite time of the year. I have hardly bought any presents, I don’t even know what I want for myself, haven’t thought about what to get anyone else and my christmas tree taunts me. I have done the tree 2 1/2 times already and it keeps looking slightly off. So last night for the 3rd time, I took all the decorations off to start over again, then simply left them scattered around the base of the tree.
It also doesn’t help that I am flat broke, don’t know when we will get paid for December and have no idea whether we will get bonuses this year and that my dad and uncle will be going away for christmas again, so there will not be a big family affair for the 2nd year in a row. I am totally writing 2011 off as a bad year and with any luck I’ll be back to my usual christmass obsessed self next year.
