Max: What?!?

I am sick. I have a cold/flu/respiratory infection of some sort. I get this kind of thing so often I just call it, "Fuck, not again." Right now, my vocal cords are in the process of turning themselves into finely ground hamburger. That is not a good thing when one's job requires talking. At the moment, thanks to my employer's strict sick time policy, I have all of two sick hours. And also thanks to this policy, unlike at other jobs I have had, if I call in sick for more than two hours I will not just not get paid, I will get fired. It is not that my employer is some mustache twisting villain - at least it is not just that - but rather it is that in a call center, staffing levels must be carefully seen to. Getting caught just one or two people short can throw a major wrench in the works.

However, what I do find galling is that I am going to be laid off. So basically, I am coming in here ripping my throat to shreds, dealing with hearing, "What?!? Speak up!" from the users, so I don't lose a job that I am going to lose anyway. That just about seems to define my life.