All work and no meat makes me a cranky little Asian.

Well, I guess you could replace the "meat" with "money," and it would make more sense.

It's been a long week. Our boss took the week off, which is funny, considering that all other requests for time off for the rest of this month have been put on the backburner, since our statistics are in such "dire straits" that we can't afford to have anyone out. We're still trying to save the asses of our counterparts in the "main office" a thousand miles away, so we're getting much of the calls they would get redirected to our lines. That's another funny thing, since we have a third of the staff they do, and we do five times the work, and we're still being counted on to pull their asses out of the fire. Helping them is what got us into these "dire straits"; when we have to do their work and our work, which is unevenly assigned, our work suffers, and drags our performance down.

This makes for some bitter-ass people muttering under their breath all day before putting on their smiling voices for the next call. All of this also conspires to create one raggedy week at the office, which I have come to fondly refer to as "The Seventh Layer of Hell."

"Thank you for calling the Seventh Layer of Hell. This is Sheila; How may I help you?"

Again, all praise be to the mute button.

I'm just glad this workweek is over. Now, on to more pressing things.

If you need me, I'll be curled up on the couch with the pooch, finishing off our self-imposed first season of Scrubs marathon. There will be no green beer, no corned beef and cabbage, and certainly no trips to the Old Dude Meat Market to meet up with older coworkers who think that going to such a horrid place with a parking lot full of Lincoln Towncars and old Chryslers is an acceptable idea for finding their "Mr. Right" at this long, late date.

Oh, hell no, my ass is going to enjoy free, safe entertainment, sans wrinkled, old, way past mid-life crisis balls, thank you very much!

Feel free to bring frozen treats suitable for both the lazy human and the lazy canine.