~ma for your cousin, Suzi, and your family, Burrell.

Steph, I wish you the opposite of the "Old Chinese Curse" - I hope you will very soon be living in "Less Interesting Times". Good luck, coping-ma.

Dear The Universe, when I've said that I like the British NHS, I didn't mean that I would like a near relative to get to experience it. The day before we're leaving. Sigh. My brother has foot/leg issues, so health-ma would be appreciated.

I can't do this. I can't get through today. I can't stop crying long enough to get ready to go to work. I feel like I'm being crushed.

Can you take the day off? Hang with Kato and put off dealing for a day?

Teppy, I agree with brenda, take a sick day if you can.

I can't. There's too much to do, because of the clusterfuckery way the post-sale transition has been handled (as in, I wasn't told until late Monday afternoon that the new publisher needs 10 years' worth of files, some of which had to be re-created, and their ftp site won't give me permission to upload the files and our contact person -- someone with the title "Senior Journal Transition Manager" -- has no idea how to fix the ftp problem so I have to send 64 separate e-mails with attached files today), and 10 years' worth of physical files need to be cleaned out so we can send the hard-copy copyright forms to the new publisher -- 10 years of 17 journals per year, 25-30 articles per journal, 1-10 authors per article, all of whom have an individual copyright form -- and no one except my department is going through the files, even though we have a whole company full of people who could help but just...aren't. And tomorrow is supposed to be our last day.

I don't know how that's going to happen. And I can't stop crying to get out the door to go continue trying to dig out from the clusterfuckery.

Steph, so what if there's all that to do? It will get done, whether you're there or not, if it needs doing. It's not all on your shoulders. At this point, I don't think you owe them anything. You certainly don't need to sacrifice your mental health.

At least give yourself permission to go in later, and you do what you can, not try to do everything.

It will get done, whether you're there or not, if it needs doing.

It won't, at least the sending of the files either by ftp (if the other publisher sorted it out on their end) or e-mail. It's comical -- in, you know, a FML way -- how no one knows what anyone else does. Or, well, *I* know what everyone in my department does, but it doesn't work the other way around. I promise you, if I didn't go in, the files wouldn't get sent, because everyone would stand around going "FTP? Is that a web site? How do you do that? You can't e-mail 60 MB files? Where are the files? I don't know how a Mac works!"

It doesn't make me feel indispensible; it makes me feel disproportionately burdened.

It didn't have to happen this way. We could have been given more lead time than 3 days. There is no way we'll be done by 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Call in sick. It sounds likely that you would not be able to accomplish the task if you went in anyway so you would just be wasting your time anyway. If they want the materials I guess they will just have to extend the time or get a tech to fix the permissions.

They are not worthy of you getting sick over this. No other employee at old or new company cares so why should you.

You did not create this clusterfuck. You calling in sick (mental health IS health) may allow some consequences to come back on those who did. Please do what is best for your health.