Is there really any other way to put going back to work? I tried to be excited about it, really I did. I looked forward to being paid again, I thought about the good times sitting around chatting about last night's episode of whatever with coworkers, and even sometimes, the interesting work. I called ahead on Friday to make sure my system passwords were reset so I'd be ready to go. I wore a new outfit, and it did not consist of either jeans or a hoodie. I tried to not think so much about Liam. Tried to drop him off unceremoniously at Cindy's; unfortunately, hearing her sound off about this being Liam's first! full! day! at her house did not set the stage so well...Made it into the office, where having lots of well-meaning coworkers ask how I'm coping made me cope not so well. Mental note to self to never do that to anyone else on her first day back from maternity leave. Were they trying to make me cry on purpose??? Was it some sort of who can break her first contest?
Aside from missing Liam terribly, this being by far the longest waking time we've ever spent apart - the previous record having been set only on Friday, with his half day at Cindy's - the bureaucratic crap of the day just got me down. Our office was renovated last September and as a result, my department was shifted about ten feet north of where we used to be, and the cubicles were reconfigured. I had expected the move to cause some disruption. I went into the office, expecting to turn on my computer and wade through a few hundred out-of-date emails, quickly fixed with a few delete-delete-deletes. Then I found that my badge to get in the door had been deactivated, my computer didn't work, my phone was disconnected, someone stole my chair, my stapler, my footrest, my garbage and recycling bins and my good pens, I had a laptop but no cords to go with it, not even a power cord, the best six cubicles were taken leaving me with the not-so-desirable seventh, my files were scattered throughout several of the other cubicles (at least they were retrievable)... it was brick wall after brick wall. I have a new boss; of the six people I worked with prior to my leave, three are gone, two have been replaced, and they're in the process of hiring the third. Unsettling. I blew away most of the 874 emails that I racked up since I stopped logging into my work email account last November, but still have lots of reading ahead of me.
I'm about ready for bed.
And yes, I realize that by posting these photos today, I pretty much make it look like the last time we changed Liam's clothes was a week ago; but trust me, today is not the day you want to be picking a fight with me.
1 comments:
Sorry it was a rough day for you Carrie. I had to log on & check your site because I was thinking that "the day" was soon.
I too my first day back could not speak for the first three hours I was there or tears would form in my eyes, but it did get better. However, I did learn that when a new mom comes back to work, don't ask her when she walks in the door how she is doing. Last week a friend returned to work & when I saw her in the lunch room, I just gave her a hug and kept walking.
Hope you settle in & adjust quickly. If not, get pregnant right away & be off again!
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