Computer, oh computer?
02.28.04 (1:40 pm) [edit]Had yet another memorable computer patron this afternoon. She was a woman in her mid 70s who wanted to send an email via our library computers. Someone at our main branch had written out some directions for her and then sent her to our branch? to sign on to the internet. Apparently they, or she, thought she'd get more individualized help here than they provide downtown. :roll:
Anyway, the whole time I was helping her I was reminded of the movie Star Trek IV when Scotty tries to talk into the computer mouse. This woman was that clueless about how to operate a computer. I feel bad about not being able to spend the time and energy on one patron, but this woman would have tied me up for at least an hour and I'd still have had to do the email for her. She finally gave up and left. At least she was pleasant about the whole thing and finally agreed that she needed to enlist a family member's help. :) Hmmn, just what I'd told her from the beginning . . . :roll:
Working Saturday Again . . .
02.28.04 (9:47 am) [edit]Thanks to everyone who commented on my last blog and encouraged me to keep going. :) I've still got the itch to write, and blog. I just need something to blog about without getting too boring. :wink:
So, since things are really dead here at the lib this morning, let me just recant my adventures of yesterday when I had a day off and the girly girl with me.
First off, she's been sick for a few days now. She's had this really bad cold that's turned into a seal-bark cough for which her mother (who works in a local hospital's emergency room) took her in to be checked out. They thought she had a sinus infection on top of the cold bug and gave her an antibiotic and a decongestant for us to try to get her to swallow.
(I don't know if we're getting better at mixing it in her juice cups or her nose is just so stuffed that she can't taste it, but she's taking her meds this time around) :o
She's also kindly given this bug to me and to Grandma, though neither of us seems to have it as bad as she does.
Anyway, I had her back Thursday night and we had made plans for her mother and I to take her to a local Children's Museum on Friday providing she was feeling up to it. Unfortunately, her mother called me in the morning and told me that she'd been having a pounding headache since the middle of the night and now had a fever and severe vomiting and diarrhea. :cry: We obviously suspended our plans to go to the museum and then planned to have a quiet day of recuperation for all of us.
Girly and I sat around in PJs and watched videos and played ball in the living room for most of the morning. After a brunch, it was starting to look like naptime, so we headed for bed again. I had just gotten her asleep when the phone rang again - it was the wife calling to tell me that she was still vomiting and now it was just bile and she thought she was seeing a little blood mixed in. She was also feeling really weak and dizzy. :cry:
I woke up the girl after only a 1/2 hour of naptime, got her dressed and took off like a shot across town to the wife's place and took her to the emergency room that she works at. She got a lot of shit from her co-workers, but also got top priority. (Just a note: pays to know someone who works in a hospital ;) ) They pumped her up with some IV fluids, gave her some meds for nausea and a lot of grief for being on the receiving end. :wink:
She was only there for about 3&1/2 hours, which is really good for an ER trip. Most of that time, I and the girl were back at my place trying to get more naptime in unsuccessfully. :( I cooked dinner for Grandma and me and then went back up to pick up the wife.
(I know it sounds a little heartless to abandon her up in the ER after taking her there, but we're both practical about it. She was there with her friends and co-workers and it's hard to keep a tired, sick 3 year old occupied in an ER when she isn't the one being worked on. Besides, my place is only 5 minutes away from the hospital if I was needed.)
I took the wife and daughter back down to her place and stayed with them long enough for both of them to fall asleep. I had to get up and go to work this morning, so it wasn't practical for me to stay there all night - with all my stuff across town. :(
This morning things seem to be a bit better down there by her and Grandma's available to help out today too.
We all need to get better because tomorrow's the girls b-day party. :D Pics to follow :D
More busy
02.26.04 (3:18 pm) [edit]I've been too busy at work to even look at blogs, let alone write one. It's becoming more apparent that my current position is too filled with duties and too short on material and angst for me to do a daily blog. I think I'm going to have to just cut back to once or twice a week - at least for a while. Things are going too good for me at the moment and ironically I don't feel that good stuff is particularly blogworthy. :? Besides, who wants to hear about someone who's pretty happy with their job? :roll:
Busy, but not complaining
02.24.04 (2:20 pm) [edit]I've been really busy at work today and yesterday. Not busy with helping patrons, but busy doing other things like collection development and processing gift books. :) That's the kind of work I won't complain about because I enjoy it. :) Besides, I felt so guilty for so long at my last location because I did virtually nothing except surf the net for long periods of every day. I think transferring to this location has rewoken that Puritanical work ethic that I was brought up with. Now I seem to be making up for lost time at my last position with the amount of stuff I'm getting done, or attempting to get done here.
Most of the patrons that I've been dealing with haven't been bad either. I actually had more than one reader's advisory question. They kind of dumbfounded me for a minute because I am so not used to dealing with library patrons who read. :?
The only exception to not dealing with bad patrons was a girl yesterday who couldn't get it through her obviously not chemically balanced braincells that we (library reference staff in general) could not and would not help her with her high school chemistry homework. I tried over and over again to explain to her that none of us knew chemistry enough to help her and even if we did, we couldn't do the work for her. She kept insisting that since we had gone to school for a long time to become librarians that we should know chemistry enough to help her. I explained that we went to school for information studies, not chemistry and that what we learned was how to better help her find the answers herself in reference materials. I also told her that asking a librarian to do chemistry questions was similar to asking a surgeon to fix a television set. Both require specialized knowledge but of two entirely different sorts. :roll:
After she got it through her head that she wasn't going to get satisfaction from us, then it dawned on her to ask if we knew where she could go for tutoring in chemistry. :idea: I helped her find out where there are sites for tutoring in the area, but didn't explain to her (extremely tired of her at this point) that tutoring was dependent on volunteers and that she'd have to call around and ask if these places had a tutor for chemistry and whether or not she could get set up with a tutor.
I didn't, but should have just told her to ask her teacher or classmates for help. Wouldn't that have been the obvious starting point? Then again, from the way she was acting, I'm sure she's not exactly popular or easy to deal with from the teacher's standpoint.
Oh well, at least she was the only memorable patron from the last two days and she's gone without major incident. :o
Working Saturdays
02.21.04 (9:44 am) [edit]Back at work today, after having a fairly pleasant Friday off. Spent most of yesterday with my daughter and her mother. We took the girly for her birthday pictures at the mall and ended up spending the rest of the day together. It's nice to know that we still function really well as a family - despite everything else going on. :)
That said, it doesn't necessarily follow that we're going to get back together. We don't have to live together or be married to be good parents and tp be able to have a good time together once in a while. I'm not ruling out patching things up altogether anymore, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen and either way, we'll both still be friends and partners when it concerns our daughter. :)
Today at work things are pretty slow. We were supposed to provide emergency librarian help if other libraries needed it, but they didn't, so we have three of us on today. I can't hide in the back like I did Thursday afternoon - I think the librarian in charge today saw how clean my desk looked, so I can't use the piles back there as an excuse today.
:wink:
When I say that things are slow, it doesn't mean that there aren't any patrons in here, only that the patrons here at this branch don't require as much help as the ones at my last branch. I'm getting to catch up on my blogging - reading and writing - as well as actually doing some work. :) It's just at a more leisurely pace than during a weekday. I've literally got grocery bags of paperback gift books to start going through and looking to see if I want to add them. Too bad most of them are romances. I'd rather work on building the poor Sci-Fi collection up at this branch. :o
I suppose I should get to work on them. The LIC is going to start looking over my shoulder soon if she doesn't see a stack of books on the reference desk. :roll:
RefGrunt
02.19.04 (11:09 am) [edit]Here's my first attempt at a refgrunt:
Girl w/piercing through lip wants circulation aide application – school told her we were hiring. Me - wondering why aren’t you in school now?
3 Energy Assistance sign-ups in row.
[b]Uh oh, unannounced class visit . . .[/b]
Job application turned back in. “The test is being given today, can I take that one?” No, you have to wait for the next one in April.
Girl from class – “Which do you think you have more books on, seat belts or cigarette lighters?” Um, neither actually. We do have a few books on how things work. One has a page on seat belts.
Other librarian goes on break – he’s earned it after preschool storytime this morning.
Seatbelt girl again – now it’s X-ray machines.
Now I’m surrounded by 4 others from the class all trying to get my attention while I help the first one. I snap at them and tell them I’m the only librarian here at the moment and they’re going to have to wait their turn.
[b]Having flashbacks of working at my past location like last night. [/b]:(
“Stuart Little Goes to School?” Sorry we don’t have that one here.
Books on airbags – class must be doing projects on inventions.
Reading Club sign-up. Only two more weeks till it’s done.
Class leaving – “Where’s my stuff? I left it on the table there.” I don’t know.
Older man asking for “Clinton Wars.” We don’t have it, but nearby location he asks about does.
[b]All of the above took place in 35 minutes from the time we opened.[/b]
Another EA sign-up
And another.
Email question from colleague who wants to know which to get, cable or DSL, since I’ve had both now.
Another 2 EA sign-ups. One has to ask how to check out materials from the library – never done it before here, but has elsewhere. Wouldn’t the process be the same?
Phoned in book check for title that’s not available from the publisher yet. Send him on to our web page to recommend the title for purchase via the link we have there.
2 More brain dead EA people.
Book on how to make wood lawn ornaments and retirement sob story.
Another EA sign-up.
Brain dead EA people decide to snack while they’re waiting for the program to start – don’t look to happy when I tell them to take the food out of the building.
2 more EA sign-ups
Relief is here. The second shift comes in and I’m in the back for the rest of the day working on damaged items and billing.
[b](Big Sigh of Relief)[/b]
Back in Purgatory - Contains Actual Library-Related Content
02.18.04 (5:12 pm) [edit]For three hours only. . . :?
I'm back at the old crazy branch as emergency help tonight. It seems even more hectic than it was when I left, but then again I've had time to decompress since I last worked here. There's a computer class going on in the lab tonight, so half the computers are out of commission for patron use and the others are now booked up until the end of the night. We've been turning people away left and right.
I always feel bad for a second when it's a kid having to type a paper or do research, but they have to learn that they need to make allowances for using public access terminals. I mean computers are less than $500 for brand new these days, with all the rebates and much less for a used one that'll do the kind of stuff that they really need. Patrons walk around here with more than that tied up in the jewelry and top of the line cell phones, but they can't seem to understand that a computer would cost them the same or less . . . :roll:
Anyway, things are finally slowing down now that there's only an hour left before closing, except for a desperate few who don't get it that they aren't going to get on for any length of time tonight that is. :roll:
Tonight's my last night of being free from kids and responsibilities this week. Even though I'm working the morning shift tomorrow, I plan on having a couple of beers tonight when I get home. First though, I have to go birthday shopping for my daughter (picture from her tumbling class). :D Shouldn't take too long since I know just what I'm getting her - a couple of new titles for her Power Touch Learning System. She's going to be three in a week and a half. :D
I'm totally blown away by that - makes me feel older than I really am. ;)
Primary
02.17.04 (8:23 am) [edit]Today is our Presidential Primary here in Wisconsin. Locally though we also have our mayoral primary to narrow down the field from 10 to 2, so turnout for both is expected to be high. Unfortunately for me, my library is a polling place. :( We don't officially open to the public until 10:30 this morning, but we've had a steady stream of people traipsing through here since 7 AM. Since none of the library staff had to be here until 8:30, the custodian had to guard the collection for an hour and a half. :roll:
At least we don't have tax help or energy assistance too . . . :roll: We do have an art program for kids today afterschool though and that's been moved to the magazine reading area due to the voting in our meeting room. I wonder how the "homeless" regulars who lounge back there for hours will deal with that? :roll:
Had a good talk with a good friend last night. :) She really helped me to clarify my thinking about my relationship with my wife. :)
I remain undecided whether or not counselling can "fix" things between us. I don't believe that people's core essence can change and people can't be "fixed" like machinery. I do think though that it's going to become readily apparent from even just a few sessions whether or not things will work.
I have my girl again tonight and then 4 more nights this week (wife making up time from her "boyfriend's" visit last week). I'm really happy to spend the time with my daughter and my work schedule works out really well with having her this week - helping to maximize the time I can spend with her. :D
Ten more minutes till I have to be a librarian . . . time to finish my tea and meditate before I have to really deal with the public. :? Maybe I should try to do a refgrunt one of these days. It'd sure be easier than my last location. That location's refgrunt would have been more like a tally of how many video requests and computer sign-in questions. :roll:
Strange Weekend
02.16.04 (6:24 pm) [edit]I had an extended weekend since I took Friday off to have my girl for a longer period and to accomodate a request from my soon-to-be ex-wife to take her so she could take a trip with her visiting boyfriend (long painful story for any new readers). Anyway, I had a great time with my daughter. She's too young to understand Valentines day yet, but I got to spend it with her - my one and true Valentine. :)
Then Saturday morning, the surreality of the weekend truly began. I got a call from the wife telling me that she couldn't stand her "boyfriend." Apparently "Prince Charming" was neither. :shock: She started telling me how she kept comparing him to me and how he definitely paled in comparison. She couldn't talk long before he came back into the room, but we confirmed her plans to come back and pick up our daughter.
I was braced for another encounter with the dipshit, but it didn't happen when he chickened out once again - or was told not to come by her, since she was so sick of him.
When she came to get our daughter, she began tearing up and saying how we didn't work hard enough to salvage our marriage. The gist of what she said was that she wants to go to counselling now and that she wants to try to work on getting back together. I told her I needed to think about it and I couldn't give her an answer right away.
I thought hard about it and got a lot of good advice from friends and family and decided to give it a go. I don't know if our relationship can be repaired or not, but I do feel I owe it to our daughter to try. At the very least counselling will help decide that once and for all. I know this is going to sound a bit crazy and contradictory, but I also told her that I wanted to simultaneously continue the divorce proceedings.
My thinking on this is that if the divorce is finalized, and things aren't going to work out, then we're done. We don't have to start the whole process over again and should we decide to get back together, a marriage license doesn't cost much. :?
Anyway, I don't know if I can ever regain the level of trust that I had in her when we were good or not. I just don't know if I want to set myself up for another heartbreak from her. I guess time will tell and the counselling will help us both to decide things once and for all.
Maybe tomorrow I can get back to writing about library related stuff, but the strange turn of events over the weekend is all I can think about . . .
Tax Help/Energy Assistance
02.13.04 (11:59 am) [edit]I don't know who the scheduling genius was who decided that my library should provide tax help and energy assistance on the same day, but they must not have ever worked in a branch library. :x
We had energy assistance - a very worthy program - starting at noon yesterday, but people were lining up outside the library at 9:00 to get inside to sign up for it. We officially open at 10:30 on Thursdays, so that's when they can run in and sign up. However, we had a preschool craft program for Valentines that stirred up the EA people when we opened up the doors for the kids at 9:00. I guess in the past, some of the EAers have actually tried to sneak in with the kids groups, so we have to practically stand guard at the door. :?
Then, this one woman rushed in at 10:30 and ran into the meeting room where the EA usually is and right into the middle of the craft program. I had the signup sheet on my desk, but she didn't bother to ask where it was. Two men came up to the desk while she was in the other room looking around and signed in on lines one and two. She came out and started bitching that she was first in line and that she should be bumped ahead of them. I thought she was going to hit one of them, or possibly me until I pointed out that being number three on the list guaranteed her being seen by the EA program people because they take at least the first twenty people. Sigh :roll:
Then later we had volunteer tax assistance starting at 5:30, but patrons started lining up in the library at about 1:30. They only take the first 20 people as well and the signup sheet for that is put out at 5:00. We had people pulling chairs from all over the library and camping out around the doors of the meeting room all afternoon while they waited. Then one of the people waiting started a rumor that the tax help was starting at 4:00 instead of 5:30, which only served to piss everyone off at the library staff when we would deny it. It was getting them even more pissed off when 4:00 rolled around and the 30+ people weren't getting any tax help. :roll:
I know these are needed programs, but we don't have any control over them. We just provide the space, but that doesn't seem to matter to the patrons. I sometimes wonder if the whole idea behind us providing the space for things like this is to pad our patron number counts for the statistics? It's not like it's helping us for circulation because the people coming in for these programs rarely come to a library otherwise or check anything out. :(
Okay, on another note. I was worried about my new used car because two days after I bought it, a warning light came on. This warning was the "change oil soon" light and I knew that the dealer had changed the oil less than 1000 miles ago. I did a little research and found out that unless the oil changer presses the reset button in the fusebox, this light pops on every 3000 miles or so. :D Problem solved. Worries somewhat over. :wink:
My toe is doing fine. Just a bit bruised up from my minor surgery. I opted not to watch the procedure and read my book while it went on. I strategically held it up so that it was blocking my view. 8)
I have my girl today and tomorrow I get to take her to "Tumbling Teddy Bears," an exercise class for toddlers that we signed her up for through our local rec dept. That should be a hoot. :lol:
Oh, one last thing. I met the soon-to-be ex's boyfriend yesterday. Said "hello" and then ignored him while I gathered up my girl's stuff and took her to my place. I'm not going to say any more about it or him. It's not worth the time or energy. 8)
I'm sure I could say more things about what I've been up to, but I'm running out of nap time to write this blog. The girly girl will be up any minute and want to go on NickJr.com as soon as she sees the computer on. I guess I'll just have to keep staying up until the wee hours online after she goes to bed tonight. Got stuff to do and people to chat with. :wink:
Choices
02.11.04 (4:48 pm) [edit]Today, I had a couple of choices to make.
1. a. Get up at a decent time and try to get some stuff accomplished before going to work - I stayed up reeaallly late last night doin' stuff on the computer. :shock:
b. Sleep in a bit and push off the things that needed to get done for another day.
2. a. Have the ganglion cyst that developed on my big toe knuckle drained and shot up with cortisone.
b. Wait to see if it gets worse and have surgery that would lay me up for several days.
3. a. Be sent out for emergency help to a library that has a worse rep than the one I just transferred from.
b. Stay here in the quiet library and cut out dozens of construction paper hearts for a children's program tomorrow.
4. a. Rush to Best Buy to try to buy another game I've been craving after work - I get out of work and it closes at 8:30.
b. Go to the Evil Empire of Walmart (not that Best Buy is that much less evil) because they have a store in the area that closes at Midnight, so I wouldn't have to rush.
Decisions, decisions . . . :roll:
The winners are - 1b (my fate was sealed when the fat cat jumped up on the bed and started to use me as a pillow), 2a (done this afternoon in the doctor's office), 3b & 4(a+b) dependent on whether or not the game is in stock at Best Buy when I go there first. :roll:
Tomorrow, I get my girl back for the next two days. It won't be "daddy time" again until Saturday night. 8)
addendum
02.10.04 (3:21 pm) [edit]Just a quick note for all you fans of zombie movies. My brother gave me a copy of the Zombie Survival Guide and I recommend it highly. Not only is it hilarious, it's practical too for that inevitable day when the dead rise again to devour the flesh of the living. :D
Busier, Happier, More Mobile.
02.10.04 (2:31 pm) [edit]First off, I want to apologize to anyone out there still reading my blog after yesterdaze depressed ramblings. Things didn't turn out to be as bleak as I portrayed them. :)
My daughter and I had a great time last night and she didn't mention "the boyfriend" until very late this morning - right before I was supposed to meet him (something I definitely wasn't looking forward to). Turns out that he's either more sensible than I thought, or more than a little afraid of me, because he decided to opt out of coming when my wife came to pick our daughter up this morning. With some luck, I'll never have to see him at all and that, I think will be best for me and him.
On an even better note, my new car is awesome. It's everything that I hoped it would be (so far). :) Now I just need to work on the sound system a little bit to tweak things and I'll be riding in style. :D Much better than the '93 Metro I'd been bouncing around in at any rate. 8)
Things are busy here at the library today, but this is what I'd always imagined a library being - not just a place to warehouse books while the videos and computers were the main attractions. People read here and they actually ask reference questions and reader advisory questions. I'm still in shock. :shock:
Maybe tonight, since I'm childless and don't have to work until 12:30 PM tomorrow, I can play some on my computer until the wee hours and make up some lost time. I think it's been over a week since I last played any games at all on the machine - aside from helping my daughter with NickJr.com games that is. :wink:
Even if I don't play games, I definitely plan to have a cocktail or two.
Sprezzatura
02.09.04 (6:17 pm) [edit]I had a graduate seminar on women Renaissance writers in which we ruminated endlessly on the exact meaning of the term "sprezzatura." Here's a to a page that tries to define it.
My professor defined it loosely as the art of appearing artless - to appear to have a skill or facility without really possessing it. An example would be to sing the first part of a song perfectly, but that's the only thing you could sing perfectly and everyone would assume you have a greater capability than you really possess. It's all about hiding what you can and can't do.
I've often thought that was the essence of getting ahead in life - especially in work. Make people think you're more indespensible than you really are and they'll want to keep you employed and happy. It's all about appearances . . .
I don't know why I'm going back to this particular thought today . . . just am I guess. Maybe it's because after 10 years away from school I miss it more than I thought. I know I miss the camaraderie with the other students and the heady discussions over pitchers of beer in smoky bars. I don't get the impression that working on my MLA is going to provide that for me - especially since I often avoid discussing the library when I'm off of work because it usually turns into a rant that really belongs here. Besides, I still want to be a Renaissance scholar, even though I know I don't have the necessary skills or drive to do it. Maybe I could fake it . . .
:wink:
Anyway, I don't know where I was going with this, but now it's there and I don't want to just erase it.
Okay, back to more current things. I bought a new used car this morning. Picked up a pale gold 2001 Saturn SC2 with about 50000 miles on it. I did a lot of consumer research on it - pays to work in a library after all. :)
Went to my doctor this morning and found out that I'm going to have to have surgery on my big toe soon. :(
Worked like crazy today at the library - mainly clearing up problems like damaged items and finding that under the pile I do have a desktop after all. :roll:
The work day is almost done. It's finally quiet here.
Now I have to go home and put my daughter to bed. Hopefully she won't keep telling me how great her mother's boyfriend who arrived today is . . . :(
My turn to do a list
02.07.04 (12:54 pm) [edit]A couple of the things for today are not necessarily true yet, since I'm writing this at work. But they're what I'm planning to do tonight. :)
With thanks and apologies to those I've borrowed this list from. Hope it's not copyrighted. ;)
15 Years Ago, I:
1. Was 22 years old.
2. Was wasting my newly-minted BA in English Lit., working at the same hardware store as I did in high school.
3. Was frequently found in bars with friends – particularly those having drink specials.
4. Was still painfully shy about rejection and constantly falling for my friend’s girlfriends.
5. Was back living with my parents again.
10 Years Ago, I:
1. Was 27 years old.
2. Was still not dating anyone.
3. Was still going out to bars on a regular basis.
4. Was still working at the retail hardware store for the umpteenth time since high school.
5. Was dropping out of grad school because of family problems.
5 Years Ago, I:
1. Was 32 years old.
2. Was dating someone who decided to cheat on me.
3. Was suffering through three consecutive bouts of tonsillitis without health insurance.
4. Was living with my parents again and helping out after my dad had his quintuple bypass that bought him 5 more years of life - one for each bypass I guess.
5. Was starting to date the woman I was going to marry.
2 Years Ago, I:
1. Was 35 years old.
2. Was happily married and the proud father of an almost one year old.
3. Was just finishing my first year of working for the library.
4. Was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic and had to start insulin therapy.
5. Was smug in my belief that I’d found true happiness.
1 Year Ago, I:
1. Was 36 years old.
2. Was transferred to my last library where I was slowly being stressed to death.
3. Was trying to figure out how to survive on my meager income after my wife became unemployed.
4. Was starting to feel intensely dissatisfied my marriage was going.
5. Was even prouder of my beautiful daughter.
Yesterday, I:
1. Had my daughter with me all day and night.
2. Took my daughter sledding (somewhat unsuccessfully)
3. Discussed child care plans with my soon-to-be ex-wife for next week when her online boyfriend arrives to visit.
4. Searched for a new car online while my daughter took her nap.
5. Snuggled with my daughter, while reading her bedtime stories.
Today, I:
1. Took my daughter back to her mother’s place.
2. Worked at the library.
3. Went to dinner at my brother’s house.
4. Sampled a really good bottle of merlot.
5. Watched the movie “Office Space” for about the 100th time.
Tomorrow, I:
1. Will sleep in a little bit, but not past 9:00.
2. Will drink copious amounts of Keemun tea to wake up after drinking the merlot.
3. Will dither about spending money on a used car that I found online to replace my dying 1993 Geo Metro.
4. Will read some more of the “Cryptonomicon.”
5. Will be forgetting reality by playing my current character in a session of AD&D with my brother, his wife and a couple of friends.
Again for your viewing pleasure, here's how I imagine myself as my Dungeons & Dragons character. (presented through the miracle of digital photo manipulation) After thinking about it, I really should have scored higher on the geek test than I did. ;)
Saturday Morning Meltdown
02.07.04 (9:06 am) [edit]First patron through the door this morning melted down at the other librarian over a 40 cent fine on her card. I hope it's not a sign of things to come . . . :roll:
I'm kind of glad the other librarian had to deal with her. I think I would have just laughed at her. To be standing outside the library, waiting for it to open up on a Saturday morning, just to come in and bitch about a measly little fine. I guess that's the epitome of someone with no life.
Now if it'd been $10-$1000, then I might have understood why she was angry, or even sympathetic. But for a fine that didn't even trap her card and wouldn't have made any difference to her ability to check out materials ($5 fine limit before that happens), I don't understand the whole problem. :roll:
Maybe she thinks any fine on her card will attract the attention of Ashcroft, or the IRS, or some other entity who will then persecute her for not being a "good citizen?" Who knows . . .
Been too busy to blog
02.05.04 (6:16 pm) [edit]It's ironic but a quiet library actually means more work. :?
I'm not on the reference desk at this branch all the time, therefore I have more actual work that's expected of me. I'm also not sitting in front of a computer for the entire day with nothing to do but surf, blog and read blogs. Maybe on Saturday when there's only myself and one other librarian on . . .
I am enjoying the new branch though. The other librarians are somewhat dumbfounded by my apparent inability to notice noise levels that kids are producing. I think I just got so used to the dull roar at my former branch that I have a much higher threshold than the other staff here has. :roll: I used to be the "hardass" at my former branch and now they all think I'm too soft on the kids here. Guess I can't win. :roll:
I've been really busting my ass at home lately to finish up my High School Reunion's Web Page. The ads should be disappearing off it in a day or so, because I ended up upgrading my account there. That way I can post pictures there and link them from here. :)
Unfortunately for me, everytime I get it finished, one of the other committee members tells me I need to change something. We're running out of time to get stuff done, so I'm going to do the final revisions this weekend. I don't think everyone's going to be satisfied, but I am and that's what counts since nobody else on the committee is familiar with HTML - not that I'm an expert or anything. I'm sure a true web designer would be shaking their heads at my clumsy design and crappy coding. It gets the job done though. :)
Got my girl tonight and all day tomorrow though and it's snowing again - time to go sledding again. :D I'm so glad I won't be slogging through the snow to get to work tomorrow. :D
Second Day
02.03.04 (10:01 am) [edit]Dead silence. Absolute quiet. It's been so long since I've worked in a library that's open and yet not filled with noisy people that it's almost a bit unnerving. :?
We opened today at 10:30 and there were only 2 patrons waiting outside. They're still on their computers, but doing genealogy work instead of chat or games. There are a few others in here and I've actually helped two patrons find or order books to read for pleasure and not because they need to fix their cars or type a resume. :?
I've managed to get more done in a couple hours this morning than I would have managed in 2-3 days at my former location. :)
The only drawback is that this place is cold. Freezing cold. It's one of the last libraries in my system that's still waiting to be renovated and it's definitely not very well designed as far as the heating system goes. I keep having to blow on my hands to keep them working while I type. :( Still, I'd trade cold hands for less stress any day of the week. :)
Here's a picture of the new location.
Also, Retro Girl had a cool list of links up on her blog and the coolest one, as far as I'm concerned is this one for musicplasma which is a great way to find new music based on stuff you already like. :D
I'm not a sponge dammit! I'm a human being!
02.02.04 (10:18 pm) [edit]First day at the new location was filled with too many names, faces, facts and bits of info to catalogue with any clarity and rapidity. :shock:
Once again, I've been put at a location where none of the other reference staff have worked with paraprofessional, so they don't know what to expect at all from me. In fact, my new supervisor - even though he knows I've been working for the library system for the past 3 years - seems to be laboring under the impression that I'm completely new to working with the public, or doing reference work, or libraries at all. :roll:
I'm sure it'll get better. And today the only problem I witnessed was one adult who seemed to be off his rocker and became totally unhinged the fact that:
a: that his son had a fine that was over the $5 limit and couldn't use his card.
b: his son couldn't use his (the boy's) sister's card to check things out.
He apparently didn't understand that if you don't pay your fines, you will not be able to borrow things from the library and that it's actually a city statute here that you cannot use someone else's card without them being present. And of course, calling the clerical staff "retarded" for following the rules doesn't actually help you to win your argument or endear you to the staff. What it does do is win you an ejection from the library for verbally abusing the staff. :evil:
No hordes of unruly kids though and that's exactly what I was hoping for with this assignment, but one day doesn't constitute a trend, so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic. :)