The government shutdown is over (for at least three weeks) and I get to go back to work today, yay!
I knew I was a somewhat social person before the shutdown, but man, it really affected me while I was off! I would start having conversations with anyone about anything if I saw the opportunity. For example, I don’t even like football, but I found myself asking the cashier at Harbor Freight if she watched the Chiefs game the weekend before, just because I saw an ad there about “the big game.” Sigh. Then she said “no” and I kept talking. Sigh.
I’m hoping having been furloughed for three weeks will give me some perspective with work frustrations. How long do you think that will last? Ha!
Thanks to all of you who responded when I talked about being furloughed, and who reached out to me to see how I was doing. Few “in real life” friends/family checked in on me (although the ones who did were very thoughtful and very much appreciated), and I’m grateful for the care I received here!!!
(The last time I was furloughed I did a recap post of all the things I did on furlough. I don’t feel like I did much this time around. I worked out a lot, cleaned a bit, read, knitted, and saw friends a few times. I was trying not to spend much money (and still am not, since we don’t know how long we’ll be open). I should have spent time learning something new, but I didn’t feel like it. Oops.)
I get the unsettled feeling that came with this furlough and think you did really good keeping yourself occupied without drifting from one thing to the next – learning something new probably would have been frustrating because of the worry.
Glad you are back to work. I hope the next time you are off it’s of your own choice!
Thanks for understanding! And for thinking I did well. Yeah, I didn’t have much mental power to focus on something like that. I feel like I should have figured out my blog issues but was enjoying NOT being by my computer all day!
Yes, I hope so too!!!! 😀
I’m so glad you’re back to work! You were the second thing I thought of when I heard the government had reopened (the first being, “Thank GOODNESS this won’t get in the way of my trip!” I’m supposed to go to Florida this weekend, and with all the stuff coming out about how much the shutdown was impacting air travel, I was getting very concerned!). I really hope you’re able to stay working for more than three weeks – no one should have to go through all that nonsense again!
Thank you! And thank you SO MUCH for thinking of me!!! Aww <3
Oh gosh, I would be worried about air travel too! It was start to get really bad. I feel like that is a huge part of what made him give in! Enjoy your trip!!!
I am so glad you are back at work. This furlough must have been so stressful and difficult. We’re not in a normal government system right now, and that’s so terrifying. Some of the stories I heard about people affected were so heartbreaking… just makes you realize we’re being led by a heartless monster.
But I digress! 🙂
Enjoy work! And feel free to complain about it when you need to. Just because you were furloughed doesn’t mean you can’t complain about work when it’s annoying.
Thank you, me too! It was. And people keep calling it a vacation cause I was off work. Sigh. I am lucky we weren’t as bad off as many. There were so many scary things going on during the shutdown (and yeah, all the time now, sigh).
Thanks! And thanks for saying that – I will complain when I am stressed. Cause it helps!!!
I give it a few days :p Glad you are back to work and really hope there won’t be another shutdown in 3 weeks ( i don’t think there will be).
You mean talking to the three muscateers didn’t meet your social needs? Good thing the cats don’t read the blog they’d be so hurt ha ha.
Ha! The first email I saw yesterday set me off! But I was fine after that. And yeah, I hope they don’t do this again in three weeks. Did this mess up anything for you?
I know, right? I don’t want to offend them, because I loved hanging with them and talking at them, but I didn’t get as much response as I needed 😉
So glad it’s over! And I think you did well, too, given the circumstances.
Me too! And thanks! 🙂 Thanks for being one of my sounding boards during it!
I’m glad that stupidity is at least temporarily over so you can get back to work (and more importantly, get paid)!
I can definitely understand how isolated you were feeling since that’s pretty much been my life since moving last summer – home all day, every day with no one to interact with (sorry Terry & Violet). It’s good things are back to normal for you (although egads I hope you don’t have to go downtown tomorrow with the crazy wind chills) 🙂
Me too! We might get our missing paycheck by Thursday YAY!
What are you doing to combat feeling isolated? Going in the office at least once a week really helps me! And teaching classes.
We have situational telework tomorrow, thankfully. I am sad not to see anyone face to face this week, but it’s not worth it – they aren’t even running all the trains, it’s gonna be so cold!
Wow, that’s fast! I hope they can follow through on that!
For work, I have a call with my boss every Monday to chat and catch up, and my work BFF and I talk on the phone pretty regularly too. Apparently there’s not many people left in our old offices anyway, so I moved away at the right time lol. Otherwise going to daily boot camp definitely helps me feel social. It’s crazy how much I miss something as trivial as small talk during the day, but it is nice to interact with people!
Whoa, I don’t remember the trains running limited schedules like that before (though I was definitely WFH during prior polar vortexes, so maybe they did), so that’s some serious cold. Glad you get to stay home!
That’s good you have the scheduled call, and have someone you can talk with throughout the week. I totally get missing that small talk. I love that about being in the office. Are they downsizing your physical campus since not many are there?
Yeah, in the past, I know I am usually delayed a long time on the really cold days, but I can’t remember them canceling trains in advance! So glad I don’t have to deal with it!
Yep and also because $$$. They moved a lot of groups downtown a couple years ago and more and more people in my office WFH now.