Narrative:

Working short staffed again. Forced to work local center; local east; and city combined. Worked a two hour busy session that is usually split between 3 controllers. Plus the supervisor was working ground so I did not have line up and wait. There was frequency congestion throughout and pilots repeatedly had to repeat transmissions. Aircraft X requested runway xxr due to weight and the hot day. Because that runway was busy with arrivals; he had about a 15 minute delay. No request was made to switch arrivals because the 'tmc' was too busy working ground. I was also limited in my coordination's because of the busy traffic. The airport has construction all over which adds to the complexity with back taxiing aircraft and extra coordination on ground. I was extremely fatigued mentally towards the end of my position but there is nothing anyone could do because of our ridiculous staffing.I felt unsafe working those positions combined with that traffic load. Especially not having a supervisor watching what I was doing. This entire week has beat me down and I am beyond frustrated. Now I am having trouble sleeping because of work. But I know I have to go in because I will only make it worse for other controllers if I don't. Management refuses to slow the arrival rate (despite controllers requesting it) even though it is absolutely needed during that time and many others. A couple departures were delayed because I couldn't line up and wait and the TRACON simply continued pushing arrivals like it was any other day. We are expected to work full traffic loads with combined positions and no oversight. This is an emergency situation; I understand that. But why are we not being protected? Why are there people eligible to work ot that aren't assigned it days in advanced? Everything this summer has been forced down our throats and controllers are fed up. The facility safety culture going forward will be difficult because management has shown us what they think of collaboration. I don't know if anyone even reads these reports. I don't get any feedback. But I am keeping a copy in case something catastrophic happens. I want it documented that this was foreseen.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller reported a busy session working three combined positions and having to delay an aircraft for 15 minutes due to traffic.

Narrative: Working short staffed again. Forced to work local center; local east; and city combined. Worked a two hour busy session that is usually split between 3 controllers. Plus the Supervisor was working ground so I did not have line up and wait. There was frequency congestion throughout and pilots repeatedly had to repeat transmissions. Aircraft X requested Runway XXR due to weight and the hot day. Because that runway was busy with arrivals; he had about a 15 minute delay. No request was made to switch arrivals because the 'TMC' was too busy working ground. I was also limited in my coordination's because of the busy traffic. The airport has construction all over which adds to the complexity with back taxiing aircraft and extra coordination on ground. I was extremely fatigued mentally towards the end of my position but there is nothing anyone could do because of our ridiculous staffing.I felt unsafe working those positions combined with that traffic load. Especially not having a supervisor watching what I was doing. This entire week has beat me down and I am beyond frustrated. Now I am having trouble sleeping because of work. But I know I have to go in because I will only make it worse for other controllers if I don't. Management refuses to slow the arrival rate (despite controllers requesting it) even though it is absolutely needed during that time and many others. A couple departures were delayed because I couldn't line up and wait and the TRACON simply continued pushing arrivals like it was any other day. We are expected to work full traffic loads with combined positions and no oversight. This is an emergency situation; I understand that. But why are we not being protected? Why are there people eligible to work OT that aren't assigned it days in advanced? Everything this summer has been forced down our throats and controllers are fed up. The facility safety culture going forward will be difficult because management has shown us what they think of collaboration. I don't know if anyone even reads these reports. I don't get any feedback. But I am keeping a copy in case something catastrophic happens. I want it documented that this was foreseen.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.