Narrative:

After having a long period of time off I came back and worked 2 days before this. Summer traffic is known to be busy. We had 2 call-ins and there wasn't anyone to come help me. I was working 3 sectors combined and lost the picture. It was noticed 2 hours earlier in the day by the controller in charge (controller in charge) that we would be short around this time; which we only had controller in charge that day; and we should call in overtime. No one was called; the [operations manager] didn't approve it. The multiple sectors and frequencies were overwhelming. I didn't have a d-side (assist) and had to give a clearance to flight data that is new to giving clearances. I gave them the clearance and then had to repeat myself; meanwhile; getting behind on frequency with multiple aircraft calling. I turned a departure on course and he sped up more than I thought while the aircraft I stopped below shallowed out his climb. I missed it. Oakland high called and got control and fixed my situation. I think I missed a point out to oakland low on the slow climber too; I really don't know. I was distracted by a primary target going straight towards a regional jet on approach that took all the attention. I finally was able to split a sector to another controller. I wasn't able to give a real briefing or hand off data blocks. He had to okay them. It was an unsafe situation. When I sat down I said; 'this is too much for one person' then it took what felt like forever for someone to split the sector and help.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSE Controller working combined sectors reported a loss of separation and an airspace violation due to lack of staffing.

Narrative: After having a long period of time off I came back and worked 2 days before this. Summer traffic is known to be busy. We had 2 call-ins and there wasn't anyone to come help me. I was working 3 sectors combined and lost the picture. It was noticed 2 hours earlier in the day by the CIC (Controller In Charge) that we would be short around this time; which we only had CIC that day; and we should call in overtime. No one was called; the [Operations Manager] didn't approve it. The multiple sectors and frequencies were overwhelming. I didn't have a D-Side (Assist) and had to give a clearance to Flight Data that is new to giving clearances. I gave them the clearance and then had to repeat myself; meanwhile; getting behind on frequency with multiple aircraft calling. I turned a departure on course and he sped up more than I thought while the aircraft I stopped below shallowed out his climb. I missed it. Oakland High called and got control and fixed my situation. I think I missed a point out to Oakland Low on the slow climber too; I really don't know. I was distracted by a primary target going straight towards a regional jet on approach that took all the attention. I finally was able to split a sector to another controller. I wasn't able to give a real briefing or hand off data blocks. He had to okay them. It was an unsafe situation. When I sat down I said; 'This is too much for one person' then it took what felt like forever for someone to split the sector and help.

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.