Burnout
I remove my glasses, rubbing the tension from the bridge of my nose and setting the heart shaped lenses on the table. Pushing my palms into my brows and pressing them into my eyes, I lean my elbows down onto the table watching the stars appear in my dark of my eyelids.
My vision has been getting worse the longer I work, and like the rest of the world my spare time demands even more from my exhausted peepers though I'm not sure how much longer they'll work like this-
I'm jolted up- startled by the teams phone jingle.
Alert?
Ring.
I slump sadly thumping forehead first onto the table ignoring the call for as long as possible before I click accept on my laptop. This does not make me raise my head.
"mhullo?"
"HELLO? " I hear Michelle say. She's the store manager I help manage.
"whatsup michulle" I mumble without lifting my head. Work-from-home does have it's perks, and I am not at all cut out for corporate etiquette.
"HEY HEY, GIRLIE. HOW ARE YOU" She says, with a forced laugh. I can tell by the way she's speaking that she's one more bad customer away from a breakdown.
"im here. how can i help you." I tilt my head to lay on my cheek, now no longer speaking at the table.
"OHHH NOTHING. Just-"
And then silence. A long, LONG pause.
"It's been a pretty terrible day."
Oh.
"Yeah..." I sit up in my chair, putting my elbows back on the table and rest my head in my hands "I understand that. Everything okay?" I ask more out of reflex than my ability to carry that weight for others right now, but I do care.
"Nothing I can't handle! It's just....a lot of really shitty people this week. Today is the worst of it. The boss is coming back from his trip and told me to suck it up. Just....thought we were closer than that"
I hear her shift some papers around and sigh farther from the phone than before.
"You need a vacation." I say, knowing neither of us have the sick OR vacation days for it. "You've been manning the help for him while he's been out for a month- the least you can do is take time off when he gets back."
Her breathing hitches for a second and she laughs. A laugh I can't really identify, but it sounds a little sad.
"Yeah...if only I didn't make myself so goddamn important here."
I snort, it's a bitter chuckle that sneaks out of me because we're both hamsters who hate the wheel in our enclosure.
