We got word today from our headquarters back east that we are to work from home exclusively starting Monday..... We kind of knew this was going to happen, so I already arranged with my boss that I could still go in to the office. Luckily, he's going to be going in as well, so I'm going to mirror his schedule and work from home Mondays and Fridays. There are certain things I do at the office that I cannot do from home, plus my boss is still on crutches, so I help him to/from his car and stuff.

I've been noticing lately that one of my team at work is really starting to be affected by the pandemic and it's fiscal impact. Each day they're more on edge than the day before. They've been ranting more than usual about how it's all the democrats' fault and how they hate America, blah, blah, blah. He's a staunch libertarian who's afraid all that is his is going to be taken away by the democrats. I sit kind of near him, so I usually just go "uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, really, wow" and ignore him (he knows he's insulting me every time he does it and has no fucks to give, so I just don't react). Well, he went off today and I was the closest person he thought he could do it to. Since I'm a really reactive person, I gave it right back to him. Don't go apeshit on me for no reason and expect me to take it without fighting back.

Afterward, to everyone else I had to pretend that everything was fine, even though I'm sure they all (all 6 of the people who were actually in the office) heard me slam the door and us yelling at each other. I tried waiting for him to cool down and being the bigger person by offering to help him with a computer problem he was having, but that just started another rant against just about everything I believe in (he likes to make it REALLY personal, but don't you DARE do that to him, not that I would) and he got mad all over again. I'm exhausted from it. Sad part is, I know exactly what he's having trouble with on his computer and I can help him fairly quickly, but he won't have it.

I think the worst part of it for him was, later on, I had to give him something valuable he'd left in the office by mistake the day before that he'd called me right after he left and had me lock up for him. Kind of like when you storm out of a room and slam the door and have to go back in to get your keys or purse..... The worst part for me is, he's never going to apologize. If anything he'll either be mad for days and pretend nothing happened or he will just pretend nothing happened. In his mind, it's all my fault. He's done it before.

Maybe I SHOULD work from home every day, if anything to avoid all of this bullshit.

It makes me really sad, even more anxious and overwhelmingly stressed. I can tell I'm not going to get much sleep tonight.

This is the new normal everyone is talking about?