The Red Flag

Excuse me if what I’m about to say is considered too much info but that’s just me ('sharing is caring’).

 So I’m currently having my period (yes, just thought I’d put it in red for added effect..heh) and those who have the fortune of knowing me well (or rather misfortune of encountering me during my period) will tell you that I can be a monster during this ‘time of the month’. No, I don’t start growing fur and fangs and howl at the moon but I’d say that’s pretty close. A few days prior to D-Day, I start getting cranky (I swear I can hear Mi Amor say, “What? but you’re ALWAYS cranky!" :P)....fine, EXTRA cranky , easily annoyed (big time!) and highly sensitive (a recipe for bitchiness if you ask me).  My stomach gets freaking bloated and my skin starts breaking out like nobody’s business. You can tell when the red bomb has dropped coz I’d be moaning/crying away in pain while curled up in a foetal position (I swear I can feel my uterus throbbing!).Of coz since I started working, I don’t have the luxury of taking leave every time Aunt Agony comes to visit  so I just sit hunched over my desk with my face scrunched up in pain counting the hours till I can leave the office. I use to take pain killers (I always had a stash ready....heck I was the person lil’ sis and my cousins would turn to whenever they were suffering too....dealer much?) but nowdays I’ve been trying to train myself to be less dependent on em’ and suffer through the pain (don't know why....maybe I'm just turning plain ol' crazy) .

Mi Amor always thinks I’m exaggerating the pain (just because I have a tendency to be a drama queen sometimes)  and I get angry when he says, “It can’t be that painful. ****** (*insert female acquaintance name*) seems to have no problem every month”. Yes, just what I need to make me feel better....being compared to other women (I can just imagine how it would be like in the delivery room...."Seriously babe, why are you screaming so much? You can’t be in THAT much pain! The woman next door just delivered quadruplets and I hardly heard a squeak coming out from her”)

Anyway, I gave up long time ago trying to explain the pain to him. Then I found this awesome diagram this morning which I feel pretty much gives a good idea of the pain I go through

How accurate is this pic?!

After laughing at the diagram, I stumbled across an article in on of those online papers that immediately annoyed me (looks like mood swings are in full gear today)

Outrage over 'period' bracelets

Women staff in offices in Norway have been asked to wear red bracelets when they are on their periods - so that no one would inquire why they were using the toilet more often, a media report here has said.

This "astonishing demand" was revealed in report by a workers' union into "tyrannical" toilet rules in Norwegian companies.

The demand has sparked outrage in the Scandinavian country.

The study said businesses were becoming "obsessed" with lost productivity due to employees spending too much time answering the call of nature, the Daily Mail reported.

It found 66 percent of managers made staff ask them for an electronic card to gain access to toilets.

Toilets of one in three companies were placed under video surveillance, while other firms made staff sign a toilet "visitors book", the union report said.

"But the most extreme action was taken by one manager who made women having their period wear a red bracelet to justify more frequent trips to the loo.

Women, quite justifiably, feel humiliated by being tagged in this way, so that all their colleagues are aware of this intimate detail of their private life," it said.

The report, which did not name the firm imposing red bracelets on women staff, has now been passed on to Norway's chief consumer ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon.

"These are extreme cases of workplace monitoring, but they are real."

Toilet Codes relating to menstrual cycles are clear violations of privacy and is very insulting to the people concerned."

"I hope and believe that this is not representative of the Norwegian working life in general," Thon said.

Source: IANS

Seriously, if I were made to wear that bracelet, if anything it should be as a form of warning to the office "CAUTION....BITCH ON THE LOOSE. GET OUT OF THE WAY!DO.NOT.IRRITATE!!"