u/Arschgeige96

I’m a receptionist on a desk where there’s usually two of us but the person who works with me will be on sick leave for around 8-9 weeks or more (we’re on week 5 now) and my department aren’t able to provide cover apart from during my lunch break.

I work in a higher education institution. We’re about to enter an extremely busy time of year (main student intake). I’m responsible for calls, emails, visitors, checking in interviewees, visitor car parking, referring freedom of information requests to the relevant teams, helping staff contact people, directing people to rooms, signposting to events (which we are rarely notified about beforehand) and general in-person stuff.

I counted my calls and emails out of curiosity a couple weeks ago and during this “quiet” period before the storm, I’m taking on average 50-90 calls and 30-90 emails. This is not including the rest. This will at least double in September with in person enquiries quadrupling.

Is this sustainable? I have a feeling this may be a longer term thing and my partner won’t come back for a very long time if at all. My manager is contacting me tomorrow with a plan of action.

Am I right in feeling stressed and exhausted? I understand the nature of the job, and I’m very good at it, but I’m feeling some signs of exhaustion and I don’t know if I need to just buck up or take this seriously.

I’m having some concerns about my workload and I want to see if I’m right to be worried.

On average, how many calls do you take, how many emails do you answer and how many people do you see in person per day?

I’m a receptionist on a desk where there’s usually two of us but the person who works with me will be on sick leave for around 8-9 weeks or more (we’re on week 5 now) and my department aren’t able to provide cover apart from during my lunch break.

I work in a higher education institution. We’re about to enter an extremely busy time of year (main student intake). I’m responsible for calls, emails, visitors, checking in interviewees, visitor car parking, referring freedom of information requests to the relevant teams, helping staff contact people, directing people to rooms, signposting to events (which we are rarely notified about beforehand) and general in-person stuff.

I counted my calls and emails out of curiosity a couple weeks ago and during this “quiet” period before the storm, I’m taking on average 50-90 calls and 30-90 emails. This is not including the rest. This will at least double in September with in person enquiries quadrupling.

Is this sustainable? I have a feeling this may be a longer term thing and my partner won’t come back for a very long time if at all. My manager is contacting me tomorrow with a plan of action.

Am I right in feeling stressed and exhausted? I understand the nature of the job, and I’m very good at it, but I’m feeling some signs of exhaustion and I don’t know if I need to just buck up or take this seriously.

Just looking for some ideas from AuDHD women about what would help you or how you think I could help my friend who is AuDHD, F 30s.

We work in a university, me on reception and her in the admissions team. She works down the corridor from me and normally has access to a quiet room in her office should she need it, but next week and the week after is “clearing”, which is basically when applicants who didn’t get the required grades and try to find a university that will let them in.

This is the busiest time of year for her team and it’s already ramping up a lot and for this two weeks her, her team, and selected university staff get moved to a computer suite above reception to answer calls related to clearing. It’s extremely busy and emotionally demanding.

She’s been dreading it since she found out, but this week it’s been really affecting her. She’s already feeling overstimulated and has used her room all day today. She felt so much pressure from callers and the heat (UK summer) that she came to me crying earlier.

She’s worried about being overwhelmed, having meltdowns, not performing and isolating herself from her team during this period.

The computer suite has a door but it shares the same ceiling as reception and is kind of like a balcony so she’ll also be hearing all the noise from reception.

I really want to support her and make her feel safe.

We have what we call a “rest room” (a quiet dark room with a bed) down the corridor from us and I have a key for it, so I was thinking about informing her of this and giving her access to it whenever she needs.

She likes hugs and talking things through so she knows I’m always available for that. It definitely helped her earlier.

Do you guys have any more suggestions on how I can help her? Little things that I might not think about with not having a ND diagnosis?

I would be so happy to hear them!!

I fly to PDG from Lisbon on Thursday and my weather apps aren’t giving me much info on the crazy fog the islands have been dealing with. Just wondering if anyone on the islands knows if things are moving on now? I haven’t heard anything from TAP so assuming things are fine until they’re not. Want to be prepared though.

Thought I’d share this in case it makes anyone else think like it did with me

I have various forms of anxiety but the main ones are emetophobia, health anxiety and some kind of agoraphobia type thing where I really struggle with feeling trapped/like I can’t escape easily.

The main symptom I get is nausea which makes me want to run to the bathroom and then when I get there it completely goes away and comes back as soon as I go back to a situation. It’s been flaring badly lately.

I was at a concert tonight in a stadium with some friends. Every 10 minutes I got that urge so I kept running off, but at one point during a song I was enjoying I had a thought: “do I really want to choose to do this over having fun and making great memories with my friends?”

I immediately thought “no, of course not” so I stayed and let it pass through me. Had a lovely night in the end.

You can’t control your anxiety but you can control how much you let it run your life. Show it who’s boss!

Please be constructive, I know I’m in the wrong. I’m 29F. I also understand if it’s not relevant to the sub so delete if necessary.

I’ve been reflecting as I’ve lost a lot of friendships since around 2020, like a disproportionate amount, one of which was an 18 year long one. I lost a whole group once and I think I’m about to lose another after only five months of knowing them. I’m seeing the signs.

The feedback I’ve had from those willing to give me it over the years was that I talk about people behind their backs a lot, make insensitive comments and jokes, and have leaked the odd secret. People have said I’m untrustworthy, unpredictable and intense. I particularly struggle with female friendships, male ones I haven’t really had any issues with.

I have recently handled a couple situations with my colleague/friend very poorly and insensitively and I’ve noticed since then my friends at work have been replying less to my messages and avoiding me. I know the conversation is coming soon if they’re in a place to tell me. I really didn’t want to screw this one up as they’re fantastic people.

Alongside this, I’ve been so ridiculously impulsive that it’s affected my health. I’m riddled with dental problems, am obese, have bowel problems and kidney issues due to the fact I just don’t eat right or take care of myself.

I’m single and still living at home. I have traveled quite a lot which is amazing, but I have no savings. I have made several very poor financial decisions. I was in credit card and overdraft debt for years but I managed to get myself out of it. I did burn out in the process though.

At my age it’s not cute anymore and some of the crazy stories I have are not quirky, they’re just embarrassing. I do not like who I’ve become.

I have had a lot of therapy (I have a bad anxiety disorder and am more than likely neurodivergent but undiagnosed) and it’s helped me with some things but this is an issue that I need to fix myself.

Any ideas or advice?

Please be constructive, I know I’m in the wrong. I’m 29F.

I’ve been reflecting as I’ve lost a lot of friendships since around 2020, like a disproportionate amount, one of which was an 18 year long one. I lost a whole group once and I think I’m about to lose another after only five months of knowing them. I’m seeing the signs.

The feedback I’ve had from those willing to give me it over the years was that I talk about people behind their backs a lot, make insensitive comments and jokes, and have leaked the odd secret. People have said I’m untrustworthy, unpredictable and intense. I particularly struggle with female friendships, male ones I haven’t really had any issues with.

I have recently handled a couple situations with my colleague/friend very poorly and insensitively and I’ve noticed since then my friends at work have been replying less to my messages and avoiding me. I know the conversation is coming soon if they’re in a place to tell me. I really didn’t want to screw this one up as they’re fantastic people.

Alongside this, I’ve been so ridiculously impulsive that it’s affected my health. I’m riddled with dental problems, am obese, have bowel problems and kidney issues due to the fact I just don’t eat right or take care of myself.

I’m single and still living at home. I have traveled quite a lot which is amazing, but I have no savings. I have made several very poor financial decisions. I was in credit card and overdraft debt for years but I managed to get myself out of it. I did burn out in the process though.

At my age it’s not cute anymore and some of the crazy stories I have are not quirky, they’re just embarrassing. I do not like who I’ve become.

I have had a lot of therapy (I have a bad anxiety disorder and am more than likely neurodivergent but undiagnosed) and it’s helped me with some things but this is an issue that I need to fix myself. Anybody have any experiences of fixing this within themselves or know someone who has? Any tips?