réceptionniste du jour...encore une fois

Work has been crazily busy lately and I have been running around a lot to get things done. My side project has been put on the back burner and the documents are piling up. I am seriously concerned about the possibility of the tray just collapsing and burying me in the pile of things to file away. To top it off, I get to cover the reception today since the receptionist is away today and the other backup has work chained to her desk (whereas the most part of my job only requires the computer so it doesn't really matter where they station me). So with my big pile of stuff I settled into the little cubicle, hoping to get some work done in between phone calls and visitors. Of course it wouldn't be easy as that, because somehow, things always come all at once - when the phone rings, people would start walking in, or vice versa. Just this morning I had a full house - 4 different groups of visitors coming in at once looking for different people while the phone was ringing off the hook. The 2 armchairs were quickly occupied and the others had to resort to standing in an area just about 6 feet wide x 10 feet long. There was practically no room for them to even turn around, that's how crowded it was. I was bombarded and getting really frazzled, but managed to handle them all. The afternoon was better - things have died down a bit and I get to have the whole reception area to myself - with a nice outside view and no chatter (which is mostly irrelevant and repetitive) or other distraction. I often feel that I am so much more productive when I sit here. Plus I get to talk to people, rather than just facing the computer the whole day. I think it's a nice break once in a while. It's just that it's been so busy lately that I wonder how long it will take for me to catch up to speed.