I don’t know. Are you in a red state or a blue state? 
Considering that I work in customer service and I deal with idiots all day, I’m actually very laid back. I don’t get road rage, I don’t have an issue with cashiers or shoppers. When I do get annoyed, it never lasts long enough to raise my blood pressure.
One of my coworkers really annoys me though. If she says “Happy Monday (or Tuesday, Wednes…” one more friggen time, I’m going to shove my keyboard down her damn throat. We’re at work. We don’t want to be at work. Our customers are also at work. No one is really happy. Mondays are not happy. The correct way to answer a phone is: Good Morning, Thank you for calling …, My name is…, How may I help you? It’s not Happy goddamn MONDAY!!!
I feel better now
On a totally serious note: I agree completely with Left Hand. I play Diablo when I’ve had a bad day. Evil Genius and City of Heroes are fun but they’re not bloody and violent. You hit someone, they fall down. There’s no gore, gagging, and sharp instruments. Diablo is the perfect antidote to a bad day.
I also get very high on cold medicine.
Dayquil makes me very high. My vision goes all wonky. Driving is really dangerous because red looks like yellow and green looks like red. I also feel like my “self” is about a foot behind my body - if that makes any sense. I feel like I’m watching myself do things. I hear things about 10 seconds after I actually say them. I’ve only taken it twice (the second time was an accident). Now, I drink tea and sleep.
I’ve always wanted to make a bumper sticker that says…
“The more people I meet, the more I like the bomb.”
Wild thought-since you’re midwestern, work in a cube, and it’s November-any possibility of SAD? A former girlfriend would catch the express train to bitch city if she didn’t get her lightbox treatments from fall to spring. Hope you feel better.
QTM always give excellent advice. This, by far, is some of his best.
So what if the speed bump guy was going to slow. Ask yourself in TEN YEARS will it make a difference? Will you even remember the incident?
It’s so easy to say this, and I don’t mean to be brusque… aw, fuck it, this it the Pit, and Thanksgiving is my most hated least favorite holiday, so I’m going to say it-- when you are depressed and feel like shit and hate everyone and can’t figure out why the world seems to revolve around death and money and depravity, one asshole in a slow car makes you damn near homicidal.
Am I right, Indygrrl? 'Cause that’s how I feel sometimes too. Just upped the dose of the old Effexor myself, and I still have my bad days. Sometimes things just don’t make sense to me, and the rude cashier, or the driver who cuts you off, or the co-worker who is a bonehead day after day, they just tip the day from merely miserably into truly infuriating. Maybe the anger is a relief from the low-level shittiness because it gives you something concrete at which to direct your anger. Believe me, Indy, I understand. I am right there with you. And I am lucky because I have the luxury to spend entire days not seeing anyone or leaving the house, because I’m single and live alone. I often wonder if that’s healthy of me, but it feel just fine, so I do it when I need to. I hope you can find a way to do it too, and not feel guilty about it.
Antigen: Is there a local mental health clinic near you? We have a county mental health center that has a sliding fee scale, so anyone can afford therapy, no matter how poor. The doctors there will keep you in drugs via samples if you have no prescription plan and can’t afford them. Check your phone book and don’t wait, because I worry that someday, you’ll have one of those epically bad days and then… you know. Hang on, both of you. The holidays are the worst time and it does get better after that.
I’m feeling ya, Indygrrl, I have been feeling the exact same way. I started thinking a couple weeks ago that maybe I need anger management counseling. Life is hard sometimes, it’s not hard to become overwhelmed.
I think it’s very easy to get overloaded on the idiots of the world, and that’s when you gotta take some time and take care of yourself. Along with looking into changing or increasing your medication(s), a vacation may be in order. And/or force yourself to read something like Norman Vincent Peale or a Chicken Soup For The Soul book, something to break the cycle of negativity of your thoughts.
Hope you feel happier soon.