musings a go go

Today at work, I was feeling a bit irritable--deluged by innane broker questions, getting there 17 minutes late (the alarm was about 30 minutes slow)--I went in "early" just so I could have a cup of coffee and a cigarette. We don' t smoke in the house or car so I thought I'd relax by going into work early. Not so....walk in, clock in, get on the phone queue, and start chipping away at my huge inbox emails. I was extremely nice up until a point--answered calls politely, but I have brokers call me directly and fax to me directly, and email me directly requesting urgent things that need to be done. They are not satisfied with our phone system and a lot of these people I take extra time with are old ladies from banks, people who are just set up on our online system and these old southerners who are used to doing everything with a particular person. Now I haven't minded going above and beyond with customer service, but when 50% of the calls are waiting for me (and they are supposed to go thru a queue getting the next available representative), trying to put people on hold while I can chew a bite of my lunch, AND having my not having my departmental instant messenger along with trying to communicate with friends and having some criticize my response time, it just chapped my butt...I got short with some email friends and some co-workers and to them it seemed like the end of the world..."How Dare Andy Barton Be In A Bad Mood!"....I'm always the one trying to get the drama sorted out, remain calm and listen to each side, but surely I can be in a bad mood (not pretending anyway) without people freaking out and thinking it is the end of the world just because I'm a bitch for 20 minutes. I get over it fast, but people, it's going to be OK....