a long, cumbersome update, from my heart to yours
well, well, well, its been quite some time hasn't it? the last time i posted here it was to say that i didn't mind the fact that i was working on a saturday, which at the time was true. since then, i have come to despise all things work related, save maybe the people i work with, and especially hate the fact that i am here on a saturday again, and this is the only time i get to blog. as it turns out, the company i work for is actually a greedy, money-making machine that finds its fuel in my blood, its lubricant in my sweat, and its pleasure in my tears.
i have been forced into the role of a workaholic. i have been shackled, whipped, and beaten by a green piece of paper whose weight could topple even the most brilliantly engineered marvels of modern architecture. actually i'm just exaggerating for the sake of drama. the truth of the matter is that somewhere in the hierarchy, someone made a stupid decision that would affect hundreds of thousands of clients all at once without thinking about the possible lashback one might incur from said hundreds of thousands of clients. as a result, i got yelled at, a lot, by a lot of people over the course of 2 or 3 weeks. my company instituted mandatory overtime (a concept that exists in theory only, but was enforced, despite my numerous warnings that i was going to lead a strike) and I ended up working from 5 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for what should have been two weeks. you might be saying to yourself, "what odd sentence structure...what does 'should have been two weeks mean,'" which is when a grin comes across my face and i tell you that this is when the story really gets good.
see, the mandatory overtime was implemented on a thursday afternoon, so the following day i had to report for duty at 5 a.m. which wasn't really a big deal because i didn't really think it was going to last for as long as it did. well, after friday we were informed that we would have to work the same shifts all of the following week, which is when i first threatened to lead a rebellion, but decided to wait to see how bad things were going to get. the next week i showed up at work on time, every morning with a fake smile on my face and worked my shift, but at some point, probably due to sever sleep deprivation and exhaustion, i yawned and i felt a small twang of pain through my jaw. i didn't really think much of it, even though the pain resurfaced occasionally as i pronounced a certain word one way or tried to chew some food a little too frantically. as the week progressed, my jaw slowly seemed to be getting better, or at the very least it wasn't getting worse, so i still wasn't worried, even though suzanne and my parents were convinced that i should see a doctor. i promised them all that if at the end of the week my jaw still hurt as badly i would call a dentist to set up an appointment (my dental insurance didn't start until february first, so i still had to make it through half of the following week before i could really think about any medical treatment. well, friday came and went, and i was convinced that i was going to be fine. even throughout the weekend there wasn't really a problem, though the pain did seem to be steadily increasing, and sunday night it was slightly worse that the rest of the day despite the application of hot packs and excessive ibuprofen ingestion.
it wasn't until i woke up sunday morning that i was really convinced that something was wrong. i woke up with a headache the likes of which i had never experienced before. the pain started right in front of my right ear, extended up to my temple and down through my jaw to the back of my neck. since my job involves talking on the phone all day long, i was pretty sure that this wasn't going to work out, but since i had to work at 5 a.m. i didn't know who to call, so i got dressed and went in just so i could tell my boss that i wasn't going to work that day. monday, tuesday were the worst. i would try to close my mouth, but soon realized that the teeth on the right side of my mouth weren't meeting, whereas the ones on the left had no problem. i also noticed when i looked in the mirror that when i opened my mouth, my jaw opened sorta diagonally, rather than the traditional up and down action that we're all used to. wednesday i did finally get to see a dentist, and he referred me to an oral surgeon to get a good x-ray of my jaw (earrings look cool in x-rays, especailly when they are mine), and by the time i got in to see the oral surgeon pretty much everything was back to normal.
the oral surgeon told me that when i yawned, i probably displaced the cartilage that sits between the bones of my jaw, and that when you do that, you expose nerve endings and blood vessels to a tremendous amount of pressure. when you put pressure on nerve endings, you get pain, when you put pressure on blood vessels you get swelling and internal bleeding, which is why i couldn't close my jaw on the right side. the oral surgeon also said that the situation was probably exacerbated by constantly moving my jaw at work, and he assumed i was probably clenching my teeth at night due to my crappy, mind numbing, unnecessarily stressful job.
so, the reason i didn't have to work those ungodly hours for a full two weeks was because i was physically disabled for 3 of the last 5 days that the overtime was in place. isn't that awesome!?!
anyway, what else has happened? not too much, sadly. its pretty much been work, eat and sleep for me for the past few weeks. i'm trying to get out of the habit of not doing anything, but its really hard. its getting so that the only thing i have time to do is make a living, which is only funny to me because i would scarcely consider this living.
As of today the taxes are done, i'm going to be filling out the fafsa soon and then, in just 6 short months i'll be embarking on another trans-continental journey to the east coast, where learning awaits me.
so, the only good news i really have is that i have something to look forward to 1/2 year from now.
awesome.
i'm really not in as bad a mood as i sound like i'm in, things have just been rough lately. they are starting to turn around again, but its still just feels like i've been wiping my ass with sandpaper for 4 hours...its over, but its memory lives on.
i have been forced into the role of a workaholic. i have been shackled, whipped, and beaten by a green piece of paper whose weight could topple even the most brilliantly engineered marvels of modern architecture. actually i'm just exaggerating for the sake of drama. the truth of the matter is that somewhere in the hierarchy, someone made a stupid decision that would affect hundreds of thousands of clients all at once without thinking about the possible lashback one might incur from said hundreds of thousands of clients. as a result, i got yelled at, a lot, by a lot of people over the course of 2 or 3 weeks. my company instituted mandatory overtime (a concept that exists in theory only, but was enforced, despite my numerous warnings that i was going to lead a strike) and I ended up working from 5 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for what should have been two weeks. you might be saying to yourself, "what odd sentence structure...what does 'should have been two weeks mean,'" which is when a grin comes across my face and i tell you that this is when the story really gets good.
see, the mandatory overtime was implemented on a thursday afternoon, so the following day i had to report for duty at 5 a.m. which wasn't really a big deal because i didn't really think it was going to last for as long as it did. well, after friday we were informed that we would have to work the same shifts all of the following week, which is when i first threatened to lead a rebellion, but decided to wait to see how bad things were going to get. the next week i showed up at work on time, every morning with a fake smile on my face and worked my shift, but at some point, probably due to sever sleep deprivation and exhaustion, i yawned and i felt a small twang of pain through my jaw. i didn't really think much of it, even though the pain resurfaced occasionally as i pronounced a certain word one way or tried to chew some food a little too frantically. as the week progressed, my jaw slowly seemed to be getting better, or at the very least it wasn't getting worse, so i still wasn't worried, even though suzanne and my parents were convinced that i should see a doctor. i promised them all that if at the end of the week my jaw still hurt as badly i would call a dentist to set up an appointment (my dental insurance didn't start until february first, so i still had to make it through half of the following week before i could really think about any medical treatment. well, friday came and went, and i was convinced that i was going to be fine. even throughout the weekend there wasn't really a problem, though the pain did seem to be steadily increasing, and sunday night it was slightly worse that the rest of the day despite the application of hot packs and excessive ibuprofen ingestion.
it wasn't until i woke up sunday morning that i was really convinced that something was wrong. i woke up with a headache the likes of which i had never experienced before. the pain started right in front of my right ear, extended up to my temple and down through my jaw to the back of my neck. since my job involves talking on the phone all day long, i was pretty sure that this wasn't going to work out, but since i had to work at 5 a.m. i didn't know who to call, so i got dressed and went in just so i could tell my boss that i wasn't going to work that day. monday, tuesday were the worst. i would try to close my mouth, but soon realized that the teeth on the right side of my mouth weren't meeting, whereas the ones on the left had no problem. i also noticed when i looked in the mirror that when i opened my mouth, my jaw opened sorta diagonally, rather than the traditional up and down action that we're all used to. wednesday i did finally get to see a dentist, and he referred me to an oral surgeon to get a good x-ray of my jaw (earrings look cool in x-rays, especailly when they are mine), and by the time i got in to see the oral surgeon pretty much everything was back to normal.
the oral surgeon told me that when i yawned, i probably displaced the cartilage that sits between the bones of my jaw, and that when you do that, you expose nerve endings and blood vessels to a tremendous amount of pressure. when you put pressure on nerve endings, you get pain, when you put pressure on blood vessels you get swelling and internal bleeding, which is why i couldn't close my jaw on the right side. the oral surgeon also said that the situation was probably exacerbated by constantly moving my jaw at work, and he assumed i was probably clenching my teeth at night due to my crappy, mind numbing, unnecessarily stressful job.
so, the reason i didn't have to work those ungodly hours for a full two weeks was because i was physically disabled for 3 of the last 5 days that the overtime was in place. isn't that awesome!?!
anyway, what else has happened? not too much, sadly. its pretty much been work, eat and sleep for me for the past few weeks. i'm trying to get out of the habit of not doing anything, but its really hard. its getting so that the only thing i have time to do is make a living, which is only funny to me because i would scarcely consider this living.
As of today the taxes are done, i'm going to be filling out the fafsa soon and then, in just 6 short months i'll be embarking on another trans-continental journey to the east coast, where learning awaits me.
so, the only good news i really have is that i have something to look forward to 1/2 year from now.
awesome.
i'm really not in as bad a mood as i sound like i'm in, things have just been rough lately. they are starting to turn around again, but its still just feels like i've been wiping my ass with sandpaper for 4 hours...its over, but its memory lives on.
posted by R. Peeps at 2:47 PM
4 comments
