Library Life:

A column of eclectic rantings

By

Katie Kintner

Msm00.yahoo.com

 Okay, this month’s column is truly eclectic, as I have no idea what to write about this month.  A lot of “stuff” is happening in my life, but none of it is really too interesting. I’m sure you don’t want to read about how hot it’s been or how much I’ve turned into a hermit, much to my hubby’s dismay.  I just don’t want to leave the house lately, even though we don’t have air conditioning.  Yes, we just sit with our three fans and sweat during heat waves, but the rest of the time…well, we sit and sweat.

 So my mind is wandering back to columns past and hoping to mine some pyrite yet left unfound.  So far, nothing.  It’s a good thing this column only comes out three times a year.

 A pain in my knee reminds me of a past position in an anonymous library.  I couldn’t write about it then as I still worked there, but I can tell you something about it now. I did a stupid thing and went to a union-sponsored bowling tournament. On my first ball—my FIRST ONE…I sprained my knee.  I was hobbling for the rest of the tournament and then went straight to the urgent care clinic.  When I came out, I was on crutches and told to stay on them for 10 days to 2 weeks.  Well, no problem right? I can still do my job, just sitting more and hobbling more.

But when I got to work my supervisor told me that there was no way I could answer questions sitting at my desk. I had to get up and go to the front counter (six feet away) and answer them standing up.  With students stopping at the desk constantly, it became a problem.  Patrons looked on in horror as I struggled to my feet, got my crutches and hobbled toward them.  “No no, you don’t have to get up.  I just have ONE QUESTION!”

The one question invariably grew to three or four with me hobbling over to the reserves to retrieve items.  It did get painful and presently I did start to answer questions from my desk, saving at least a few steps.  Of course, this got me into trouble with my boss.  You can’t win.

 I did start to feel a bit picked on, especially during another incident sometime later.  I worked until closing at 8PM but usually had my day’s projects completed by around 7PM.  I would spend the rest of the evening helping patrons, shelving or wandering around cleaning.  But when all that was done, to pass time I would read websites. 

 The last thing is the one that got me in trouble.  I was “web cruising” when I should have been “working”.  Working on what? I was there for the patrons, of whom there were few at this time of day and I did everything else I could think of before sitting down at the computer. Bear in mind this is a SMALL library and it was actually possible to get caught up with cleaning and shelving. 

 Okay, so I was guilty of something a lot of people do at work.  I can take my punishment, but as I am getting older and much less tolerant of stupidity, I am less likely to take it in silence.  When I was called into the boss’s office about it, I protested my innocence as my work WAS done and I WAS there helping patrons.  I never hesitated to leave the computer to help someone but she said that people would be less likely to ask for help if they thought I was busy.  So I wasn’t busy during the day when they came to the counter? I certainly looked busy then too but if I just sat there smiling and waiting for them to come, who would do my work? How long would I be employed? This is a silly argument. Speaking as a longtime library patron myself, I have no interest in what a library staff member is doing when I come to the desk.  I just want my questions answered.

 But what really got my dander up was a glance at her library-owned computer—there was a photo of her cat on it as a screensaver. How did it get there? I remembered her calling me into the office one day to ask me about certain websites she was looking at, none of which were library-related.  Then I remembered the other clerk in the office blatantly cruising religious websites during the DAY and the boss completely ignoring her activity.  I lost it. We had a fight.  I wound up with a written warning for insubordination. 

 As it was, my husband had found a new job and I put in my notice very soon after all this. My notice was for one week. Two weeks would have been too much as the tension was very high in the office when the boss was there.   So that was the end of my library career, as I never worked in libraries again, not for lack of trying, but only halfheartedly. 

 So why do I still write this column? Because in my core, I still am a library tech. In my present job, I keep seeing things that could be done in the “library way” and when I make suggestions, I’m looked at as if I am crazy.  A job manual so newbies can look up answers to questions? Non-existent.  A daily task list so that certain things always get done on certain days?  Not here.  A Rolodex for keeping track of phone numbers, addresses, contact names?  They have one but it’s empty. 

 But you know what—I don’t care. I’ve decided to be just a cog and a pair of hands. If they want my brain, they have to pay extra, which isn’t likely to happen.

 So I like to think of it kind of like the bird who was cold, but then landed in a fresh pile of cow manure. He became warm and began to sing. The cow heard him, turned to look and in the process stepped on and killed him. So the moral of the story is if you are warm and happy in a pile of cow manure, keep your mouth shut.

 No, I don’t really know what it means either.