Work is spiraling hilariously - and I can do nothing but watch. Everyone who matters knows I have no control over this. I'm just in triage mode, deciding what needs to be kept afloat as we approach the Christmas break. I'll be 3 staff down in the coming weeks, and the division overall will be down 13 of 53 around the same time.

I've realized something that probably should have been apparent to me years before. At work, I encounter certain people who need to be right. To the point that they actually get combative if everything is done perfectly. I've always just navigated that as best I could, occasionally even deliberately making small mistakes so they could point it out, and we'd be on good terms because they felt useful. Lately though, I've realized, and this sounds super obvious typing it out, but... It's not just about them being right, it's about someone else being wrong. That's the kicker. They didn't want to just be useful, they needed to be sure someone else was being taken to task.

I honestly don't know how I didn't see that until recently. But it's helped a lot, reframing these interactions and what they actually want out of it.

That said, it's not all doom and gloom. We should get a nice pay increase once the union deal goes through. Also my veggies are fuckin' popping off! It's been super humid and wet of late so everything is just going ham in my garden. Alongside the gardening, my various hobbies are keeping me very entertained and I feel like I'm enjoying everything I'm doing outside of work, so overall, a net positive experience of late.