Today was just not my day.
So let me start at the beginning....
On my way to work this morning, when I was just in my own town still (before I even got to the highway), I almost got hit by a driver who wasn't paying attention. They went to switch lanes but didn't look first, resulting in their car moving into my lane and almost hitting me right in the driver's side front door. I can't even imagine what would have happened if I didn't slam on my brakes and beep the horn, causing them to swerve and me to come to a sudden halt. I got an instant headache, all of my stuff went flying, and the icing on that cake was the fact that I then had to stop at the grocery store for a new breakfast because my buttered roll landed on the floor when I stopped short. Oh, that reminds me that I need to clean the butter off of the floor tomorrow... yippee.
That small catastrophe caused a ripple effect. I got to work fifteen minutes late, which meant that I didn't have enough time to take the bus from where I park the car over to my location. Instead, I had to walk over. There's a shorter path that I can use when I'm walking rather than taking the long path that the bus goes on, but it's still quite a way to go. I knew that if I didn't walk quickly, I would never make it to my location to clock in on time. So I had to do this combination of speed walking and running, resulting in my headache worsening, lots of sweating, and dizziness starting.
Now, I've written about not feeling well over the past few weeks. No, I still haven't seen a doctor, because I keep thinking that it will just get better on its own. Unfortunately though, this dizziness keeps coming back, and the headaches come more frequently. It hasn't been fun. So when I started to get dizzy before I had even clocked in for the day, I knew that it was going to be a long shift.
My dizziness and headaches seem to come in waves. I'll feel fine one minute and absolutely awful the next. That's how it started out today. I wasn't feeling the greatest, but I could handle it. On the bright side, I found out that our air conditioning is being fixed, and it wasn't quite so hot in my location today, and of course I had some great Guest interaction throughout the morning. But as the day went on, the dizziness continued to get worse. I felt like I was off balance, and walking up and down stairs became increasingly difficult. At one point, I turned too quickly and almost fell over, but luckily I was standing next to a counter and could stop myself before I went down.
My amazing co-workers kept trying to make me feel better, and told me that I should go talk to our manager about going home early. I really wanted to follow their advice and try to go home, but I also didn't want to mess anyone else up for the rest of the night by leaving them short staffed. So I pushed on until everyone else had finished their breaks for the day. I was supposed to have the last break of the night, and instead of just going to break, I stopped to talk to my manager. I explained the situation and asked if it would be at all possible for me to go home three hours early. And then, the most embarrassing thing ever happened... I began to cry.
Didn't I tell you that this just wasn't my day? I didn't feel well, I was asking to go home early (which I hate... sure, I'm often lazy and would rather hang out on the couch or sleep in instead of doing a lot of work, but when I'm actually at work, I want to keep busy and do what needs to be done and I don't want to leave before the day is over)... It just broke me down. Of course my manager was understanding and said that we had plenty of other Cast Members there for the night and that I could go home early, but I was so dizzy and shaky that I couldn't even leave. I clocked out and had to sit in his office for almost thirty minutes before I felt well enough to go back to my car and drive. It was so embarrassing!
When I finally got home, my siblings were happy to see me (since they're usually in bed before I get home), and I was happy to see my dad (he started a new job that results in us not seeing each other on my own work days), but I just wanted to get out of my costume and sit down. My mom was nice enough to make me some dinner, and my brother sat and talked with me while I ate, and I spent the rest of the night leaning back on the couch trying not to move my head.
I'm ready for this day to be over. I knew a little after 9am that it was going to be a bad day, and I was right. It was a horrible day. But there was still some good in it because I had some wonderful interactions with Guests, incredible co-workers who got me to laugh and smile in order to take my mind off of the dizziness, and a fantastic family who checked up on me when I came home. I'm really lucky that I have so many more good days than bad days in my life... And at least if I have to have a bad day once in a while, I can be surrounded by some awesome people to balance it out.
Here's to a "great, big, beautiful tomorrow," in the words of Disney's Carousel of Progress! I hope everyone has a great Friday!
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Thanks!
Taylor