Stress

["Vollbach, Elizabeth" <evollbach -at- CCLINK -dot- LOGICON -dot- COM>]

     Depends on the person, I think.  Once I know my job, as opposed to
     learning the particulars when I begin working for a company, no, I
     don't get stressed, just concerned that, maybe, a deadline is going to
     be difficult to meet.  But that's not stress; that's just part of
     being a technical writer.  We're supposed to be concerned about
     meeting deadlines, right?

     I figure, I'm doing the best I can do, and I can't do better than
     that.  Learning can be stressful, but isn't that true of any job?  If
     you're good at what you do, why worry?

     Do you remember the big deal a few years back when the air traffic
     controllers went on strike and Reagen fired them and those people went
     on and on about how theirs is the most stressful job ever and poor,
     poor us?  And then, about a year ago, wasn't it, or two, when there
     was all that trouble with the postal workers.  Remember how they,
     then, claimed that theirs was the most stressful job ever, and that's
     why people went nuts and shot their coworkers?

     Don't misunderstand me.  I do/did sympathize and am sure these jobs
     were/are stressful.  The point is, it appears that everyone thinks
     theirs is a very, very stressful job.  But I also think the only way
     to keep stress off the job is to quit.  And, in a way, I think it's
     sissiesh and wimpy to complain about stress on the job.  I admit, I've
     been guilty, especially when I tell the chiropractor about my bad back
     because my job is so, so hard; but, still, I think it's wimpy.

     Beth Vollbach
     evollbach -at- logicon -dot- com
     San Diego, CA