Kind of like the difficult we do right away, the impossible we do as soon as we can. The intractable problems just take a little longer.

After putting out metaphorical fires all day yesterday, I went home, so tired, I was staggering with exhaustion. Too tired to sleep longer than a couple of hours, I woke up in the middle of the night, replaying the day's problems.

It goes without saying that I'm tired today, right from the start, but I'm hoping that I can avoid working any overtime. I'd like to go home and relax.

We got custodial supplies today, which had to be put in the conference room (temporarily), causing much consternation and comment. The least little thing with cleaning supplies, housekeeping tasks, or facility maintenance seems to arouse a lot of anxiety and concern around here.

And heaven forbid you should want to keep food in the kitchenette refrigerator over the weekend! Twice now I've had perfectly good salads thrown out because someone has a fetish for cleaning. I pointed out the expiration date on the one I was able to rescue (it didn't expire until the following Tuesday) but, short of an armed guard, I don't think my protest will make any difference.

Now I'm being nagged to have the custodian clean this, sweep that, dust here, straighten up there. Personally I think the office where I work is clean, tidy and a pleasant place to work--and these neat freaks need to get a grip.

The other person who gets on my nerves is the passive aggressive, who will do nothing more nor nothing less than exactly what you say. So if you tell this person to upgrade the phone numbers for the fax, that's what happens. The fax machine gets updated, but the list on the wall doesn't, because you didn't say update the list, too. I expect a certain amount of proactive initiative around here--or at least intelligent questions ("Do you want me to update list, too?").

It's a stressful time, and I guess I'm just running short of patience. I don't suffer fools gladly, only silently. Neither the neat freaks nor the passive aggressive will respond well to any requests for change or moderation of behavior, as I have learned the hard way. Result? Put up and shut up.