I was in a meeting recently, and a few people from other departments were talking in another language about some weight-loss regimen one of them was on. All I could gather was that it involved drinking a lot of water and eating egg whites. I couldn’t help feeling like they were talking “over” me or “around” me about the topic because I’m the unit dietitian who actually knows about sane, healthy weight loss and would likely disapprove of their crazy fad diet.

We were passing the phone around to talk to a patient’s family member, and when one of these women was about to pass me the phone, she said, “And here’s the, uh, kitchen lady.”

I hung this up in my office as a reminder not to curse at work. Think it’ll help?

Not gonna lie—I kinda lost my sh!t a little bit. I said, “Yep. Four f***ing years of  schooling and a f***ing Masters degree and I’m still the goddamn Kitchen Lady.” For better or worse, I think only the social worker heard me. You can take the girl outta Jersey…However, I instantly switched back to cheerful work mode. No reason to take stuff out on someone else.

I don’t know if this is good or bad, but either way, this job has lowered my bullish!t tolerance to zero. That said, it’s also made me calmer and more patient, more inclined to be kind and open-minded. And I always refer to people by their title—chances are, they worked hard to get where they are. Here’s to hoping that one day, mutual respect will be a reality instead of a pipe dream.

Le sigh. On the plus side, I just found out I have 12 vacation days I need to use between mid-November and the end of January. And 2 personal days. Hopefully some time off will quell the wtf-ness. Until then, gotta keep on keeping on with the help of some good food, good sleep, and exercise that makes me feel at least energetic enough to handle what comes my way!

How do you combat the wtf blues? What would you do with 12 vacation days?