It's not me... It's You

We all have those days... weeks, and maybe months. The times when you literally want to scream into your phone. (Maybe you yell after you hang up, like me.) It can stem from all kinds of things - overbearing workload, overbearing boss, incompetent coworkers, and irritating clients.

Often times we have to deal with those high-maintenence clients who truly believe that your entire job is to do whatever they ask, whenever they ask, however they ask. Without considering that maybe, as the professional in your field - you might actually know a thing or two and have a better idea, or a solution that might actually work for a change.

As you can probably imagine, I am currently in the midst of dealing with one of these oh-so-special clients. Are they a 'VIP' client? Nope. Not even close. In fact, they are supposed to be one of those get-it-done-fast-and-move-on clients. Sadly, they don't realize this. Instead, I spend my days respond to countless, incessant emails about mundane details that should not be an issue. Then the conference calls. Oh, the many conference calls. Ever heard the phrase "beating a dead horse"? They have conference calls to review what will be discussed on the next conference call, and conference calls to recap the last one. Seriously people? Maybe if you spent less time preparing for these conference calls, you would have time to do your jobs!

It's days/weeks/months like these that make you realize how easy it would be to "go postal" at work. Throw your computer out the window? Maybe throw some papers... less costly to clean up.

In all seriousness though, it's times like these when you truly realize just how serious you take work, and sometimes it's important to remind yourself that it's just work. Yes, it's important work, and yes it has to get done. But 30 years from now, will you remember that client? That annoying conference call? Probably not. You'll remember your family, the important things.

So, in honor of letting the little things go and focusing on the big stuff - what do you guys do to de-compress when work gets out of hand? OR... tell us all about the time YOU lost it and yelled at work, or threw your stapler.