The Twelve Days of Christmas - Social Work Edition

Like absolutely everyone else, those of us in social work often find the days leading up to Christmas to be particularly hectic.  It can be a hard time of year for many of our clients, so they may need additional support.  There are many charitable goings-on that we may be involved in, and most of us hope to get a couple days off with our own families.

Here's a little ditty to give you an idea of what the holiday rush looks like for us.  Feel free to sing along!  (I'm not typing out the verses over and over, you all know how it goes!)

Twelve grocery gift cards

Eleven overdue assessments  

Ten client Christmas parties  

Nine home visits 

Eight food hamper deliveries  

Seven flu shot clinics    

Six church hall turkey dinners  

Five volunteers!!!!!    (we love our volunteers)

Four donated toy drives     

Three office potlucks  

Two emergency room visits    

And one last minute crisis call!

  

Bah Humbug to you too

Okay, seriously upper-management?  Sending out the THIRD email to remind rub it in advise us that we will NOT be let go early this Friday since it's not acutally Christmas Eve is a bummer.  Following this message up with an animated, red and green HAPPY HOLIDAYS message does not make it better.

Sincerely, Nectarine.

Update: Big Christmas-spirit points to my direct manager however who kindly reminds us that many of us have lieu time we can use, or if we just happen to have last minute appointments booked outside the office on Friday afternoon...    ;)

Winter

Happy winter Solstice everyone.  May your life be filled with warmth and light!

It's raining and dark in my part of the world so I can't wait to get home, snuggle up on the couch and plug in the Christmas tree lights while dreaming about my holiday time...only 2 more days of work until I'm off for 2 weeks!

The Mind Wanders Already on Monday

Alternate title: Monday Morning Musings

Or: I consider my every little thought so intricately facinating, that I just can't help but share.  I know you wanna hear 'em.

1. I wish it was a wee bit colder outside so we'd have snow instead of rain.

2. I wish that little blinky light telling me I have messages to check would just go away.

3. It's only 3 weeks until Christmas holiday, woo-hoo!

4. My Monday 'to-do' list is depressing me.

No more sleeps

Today is my last day of work before I take some much needed vacation time. It's been a busy week (as usual) and I've tried to ensure that I would have everything in order before I went away, as I didn't want to spend today rushing to finish. I had a nice, quiet office day planned, with only one in office intake, and a supervision meeting in the afternoon. So I admit it: when I walked in this morning and saw my phone flashing with a voicemail message, I rolled my eyes. My brain wondered what kind of emergency or last minute mini-crisis was going to disrupt my day...

Turns out, it was just a client calling to say "Merry Christmas!"

December Rush

December is here, the busiest time of year for many. Those of us working in social services are certainly not exempt (it’s not as bad now as when I was working for the Salvation Army, but that’s a story for another day) so what a time for by Blackberry calendar to stop synching properly!


I’ve already been double booked once due to this technological fail, and as a result had to beg on hands and knees to get a taxi approved for my client so she can go to the food bank before Christmas.

Only 15 days until vacation…