9/15, 10/15, 11/16...

Month after month, I was buried in my piles of works on my desk and I actually started to hate the 15th day of a month because it's the day when everything's due. (I was born on the 15th, too so does that mean I hate my birthday?) The amount of workload doesn't frustrate me but the unpredictability of workload discourages me. If I was able to just focus on my portion, I'd have the time to plan and work everything out. But now I'm really stressed out because I'm being called on doing things that I'm not supposed to do all the time. On a crazy day, I'd be making phone calls (calling the authorities is very time consuming and needs constant follow-ups), faxing (I don't want to wait in front of that stupid fax machine!!!), emailing (well, I'd rather be emailed than called.), drafting letters (another time consuming task and follow-up is almost a must…), doing A/R (check, cash, crack! I just couldn't think of anything it's related to my job…), training people (it's not that bad now as the new hires aren't amateurs anymore), reviewing, preparing returns (the last two are clearly my main responsibilities but sometimes the boss just gives you one or two more assignments whenever she likes… just to make my life miserable?), etc. Really, the last two things always have the 15th day deadlines but I'm constantly bothered by the other tasks and have to rush in the last minutes. In some instances, I do have the time, but the boss decides not to show up so things are stalled for couple of days for no reason. Of course, there're always extensions but to me, it's just a symbol of failure and lamb excuse for not making deadlines. The next 15th will be my birthday and I definitely don't want this vicious cycle to continue in December because I would literally prefer dead to working overtime on the 15th. I must do everything I can to get rid of anything that prevents me from leaving on time on that day, period.