And then it’s a proper, desperately needed long weekend. Work hasn’t been *bad* this week, but it’s just been a lot.

Tuesday I had a director ask me if our team could accommodate X, I said no, explained why, seemed settled, yesterday, she asks *someone else* how much it would blow the schedule if we accommodated X – I jumped back in and said no again and got her boss on my side. (I’m not just saying NO – there is an approved alternate solution in place.)

Got a message from my US coworker, can I get through to our friends on the other side of the world that a couple tasks are definitely going to take us longer than they’re estimating as she’s getting nowhere with them. So I just jump on the channel and announce “this is what we are doing, how long we think it will take, and we are full up” and left it at that. (I usually don’t even bother arguing estimates with them and just do my thing, cause they are inexplicably hard headed about these things.)

She is already waffling on if she should work all day tomorrow cause she’s off next week, I tell her in no uncertain terms she is to leave early with the rest of us, and I forward the “go home early and enjoy the holiday” email from corporate to the other side of the world with a “FYI, we’re leaving early Friday.”

Then I left work early for a haircut which felt weird given everything in the world, but I had the appointment and honestly, needed to get OUT of the office.

So, who knows if I’ll be able to even log on this morning. I was polite all day – but I was not taking any shit from anyone and I don’t know how many people above you that you can tell NO in a day, but 5 may be the limit. I am not getting paid enough to be the de facto US team lead, which is what I’ve been all week.

If I can log on this morning – I feel like I’m going to have to have an awkward conversation with folks on the other side of the world saying, “Look, I don’t know how much US news gets covered there, but while everyone may be at work this week, no one is OK, so please back the fuck off for a bit.”

Well, time to go fight the good fight.