*sigh* Too bloody exhausted to craft a coherent summary, so here's my FB PM from yesterday right after this crap happened. Edited for an F-word & a couple of typos.

Me
Just about to lose it here at work. Already had words with the boss. If it accelerates much ... not good.

Friend A
take the rest of the day and go home.

Me
Because she is demeaning, sarcastic & belittling.

Friend B
I second that!! Go home.

Me
Got deadlines that won't stop, unfortunately.

Friend B
Screw her!

Friend B
You need headphones Dan

Me
She doesn't mean anything by it. She is what she is.

Friend A
Well you can ignore her or take leave and go home. I am at home as we speak

Me
I need to see what needs to be done with this damned speech, which is what we clashed over.
I told her i hadn't meshed my remarks with the those someone else wrote, because I wasn't sure if she wanted me to do that ...
& she copped a major, eye-rolling thing -- "Then you don't have anything to show me." In as sarcastic & demeaning a voice as possible.
And this was not the time to pull that [crap] with me. Not the time at all.

Friend A
She's not a very good boss..

Me
No. She's not. She's horrible at dealing with people.
But she's apparently got the big boss' balls in her drawer. She's pulled [crap] this bad or worse with any number of people FAR above me on the food chain.
Half the building, more or less, has worked for her before ... but quit to move to another office.
I'm one of the few who have never complained to HR about her. But ... I'm getting close. And I told her that.
Not that it would do a damned bit of good, I know from others' prior experience.

And when I told her I was under an incredible amount of stress, & that she knew that ... she said, "No, I don't know that."
WHAT THE [HECK].

Friend A
She obviously knows that.. she's the one who told you to take those days off last week.

Me
I know. This is insane.
I guess those days off were supposed to cure everything. Ladedah.
I mean, I wish they did.

Impressive that you had the self-control to do that, dan. Seriously. Good for you.

Now go home and punch something.

Speaking of which & whom, received notification today from the prosecuting attorney's office that the first miscreant from the 4/15 break-in makes his initial court appearance a week from today. Apparently, it's pretty much what we called plea & arraignment in Arkansas (& may here as well ... I've never covered the courts here). The kid will hear the charge(s) against him unless he waives reading, then probably plead not guilty & be set for trial, though he could also plead guilty & obviate the need for that proceeding.

Will I be there? I do believe I will.

I completely agree. Unfortunately, we're at crunch-time at work with various projects. We've got only 3 employees (down from 8 when I started almost 9 years ago), & one of them is the boss, who is ... limited. (This is the woman I had to show how to find Google last year.) If I don't do the news website, it doesn't get done, because attempts at cross-training the other two to handle the rudiments fell absolutely flat. I'd have had better luck with the cats. And of course I'm wrting, I believe, 4 stories for our print magazine, speaking of looming deadlines.

All this while dealing with finding a new doctor (the one I went to for the first time Tuesday doesn't take plastic ... uh, no; this is the 21st century, & I put money into a medical spending account every paycheck so that I can use the account's VISA), finding a shrink (I've been off mood elevators for some 10 1/2 years now [bipolar disorder is such fun!] -- that needed to change before this most recent run of crap, & if definitely needs to change now), dealing with the cops, seeing a lawyer to possibly pursue remedies against the school district's insurer at the very least, arranging for a security system & equipment once the GoFundMe money is in my hands ... etc. etc. etc.

Luckily next week ends with a four-day weekend -- Friday off for Memorial Day, the weeekend, & then Memorial Day itself.

Thing is, even with the attendant stresses, in general my job at its absolute worst is far better than newspaper reporting & editing (my previous career) at their absolute best. But even so there are times ... & this was one of them.

They will. It's just the "meanwhile ..." business that's being a bit difficult.

RIP B.B. King

Punching things is bad for your hands.... I prefer video games  My favorite for stress relief is the Dynasty Warriors.... something about taking on a thousand or so peons and obliterating them with a hugely oversized weapon always makes me feel better.    I know some prefer explosions and more modern-ish stuff (which also works).