In it for the long haul

Well here we are at work, week 3 of my Mom's broken arm. She really isn't doing much better and so when she told me that she would be out for a week and I optimistically entertained the idea of that reality I was mistaken. Oh I knew she wouldn't be healed in a week but people work with casts all of the time. I didn't take into account her facial swelling from the fall or the pulled groin which would be enough on it's own to take someone out of commission for a few days.
I'm not complaining....really. I'm just getting tired....very tired and I'm making stupid mistakes. This job isn't physically taxing, we're not exactly in heavy construction or digging ditches. There is something to be said though for how fatigue affects your attitude, creativity and willingness to put up with customer's endless array of personal drama that they feel the need to "confide" to you.
So here I am complaining about people complaining but I mean seriously...I just want to tell them to get a grip. It is not an isolated thing, it's many many customers who come in and tell us their problems. DAILY. I learned not to ask a long time ago but now it seems the question need not even be uttered. This is their dump place, their baggage check for that of the emotional kind. I've even gotten so blunt as to say, in my charming way, that "You just have way too much drama in your life." Maybe I want them to "get it" because I did a long time ago. I can empathize with a person's situation but I do not take it on as my own because when it really matters the people I had invested myself in did not return the favor. I have boundaries in friendships now and I don't take anyone's actions personally. I wish everyone could learn this lesson. You take care of you...be there for your friend but don't become your friend. You will be a much better asset to the person in need if you just stand tall and extend a hand to them, you are of no use if you're on the ground wallowing in the mire next to them.
So okay, I'm not wallowing but I guess I wish that someone would stand over me and extend that hand from time to time. Let me dump on them for a change and actually ask how MY day is going.