Today was an interesting day at work. Now that it's summertime, I work mornings. Okay, it's kind of ridiculous, what I'm working. Because I work for the government, and the government is stingy, they only allot me 13.5 hours a week. So a lot of the times, I have to get creative with how I can manage to squeeze in 13.5 hours in a week without going over all while not ripping myself off. Basically, I achieve this via "time theft" - a charming euphemism used to describe "sitting around until 9:00 exactly to punch out". I mean, hey, an extra minute is like... 15 cents or something.
Anyway, we are ridiculously understaffed at the library. We have 9 pages working in reference. 2 are on vacation. Fortunately, 2 are supposed to be coming back since they finished up with school, but I've seen neither hide nor hair of them. Not that I mind; I didn't like either of them. See, I took over their positions - which were cooler than what I was originally doing - and I don't want them back, because then chances are I will basically be "demoted" back to doing carts for hours and hours on end. Not like I don't do that anywa, but at least when they were gone, I got to do stuff like the pull list and recycling newspapers. And that was really about it, but it beats shelving, honestly.
So what happened here, since we're so pressed for workers yet we can't afford to hire any more or give the people that do work there more hours (which I think is a load of crap, since we did technically hire two more people, but they are only temporary help, and I kind of get the feeling that they are not paid very much), my boss is like, "Well, okay, so we need you Tuesday and Thursday mornings to do the pull list. But we need you on Wednesday to close because nobody likes working Wednesdays for some reason, and then since Loan is on holiday in Vietnam for the rest of the summer, we need you to work Fridays because there's only one other girl working Fridays and she can't do everything herself."
So here's what my schedule looks like for the rest of the summer:
Tuesday: 9:30-12:00
Wednesday: 4:30-9:00
Thursday: 9:30-12:00
Friday: 1:30-5:30
Isn't that stupid? I mean, I like short shifts just as much as the next guy, but come on, 2.5 hours?? ... Whatever.
So about those new hires. Like I said, I am pretty sure they are just temporary, since they were called in to do inventory. This makes me mad. My boss promised me that I would get to do inventory this summer! I specifically asked for it, she agreed, and she even told me last week that I would get to do it starting today! But no, did I get to do inventory today? Noooo, Walter did it!
Lemme tell you about Walter. I like Walter. He is a very funny man. He reminds me a lot of Gary Coleman. Actually, he is the exact likeness of Gary Coleman. I'm not kidding. Same size, same voice, very outgoing, very funny. Yeah. I work with Gary Coleman.
So I had never met him before today, and I thought he was just some creeper hitting on me. 'Cuz he's all like, "Hey, what're you up to? Whatcha doin'? What's your name?" Questions questions questions! And then I was like, "Can I help you with something?" because I wanted to get rid of him, and then he pulls out a cart from freakin' Narnia and is like, "Actually I work here."
Well I'll be damned. So we chatted for a while. He's intimidated by me. It's awesome. I told him I was head page - which is kinda true, except the title is self-appointed. So he bowed to me! It was really quite funny. The guy's gotta be about mid-to-late 20s, and there he is, bowing to me, the 18-year-old high school graduate. It's pretty great. Actually, the 30-year-old page that I work with kinda "looks up to" me too. I like having this air of psuedo-authority. See, I technically don't have any authority whatsoever as "head page", but people think I do, so it all works out. It's pretty great.
Anyway, one of the reference staff comes up and reminds Walter to get back to work. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'll shut up now, I was just introducing myself to Miss Head Page over here."
I was a little embarrassed. Uhhh, my bosses don't know that I have been putting down "Head Page" on all of my recent job applications, and I hope they don't think I'm a pretentious asshole who's overstepping her boundaries.
So I ran into Walter on my break later, and he's all like, "What's your name again, Nancy?" I guess people have a problem remembering my name, because this is not the first time someone has mistaken "Lacey" for "Nancy". I don't get it. And then our boss walks in and starts chewing out Walter because apparently, he wasn't even supposed to do inventory today! Lol, it was kinda great.
Later, my boss also told me that she's not that fond of Walter. "He lacks focus, and he gets off task a lot." Uhh, yea, I can totally see that. :P
Whatever. I kinda like the guy though. He can stay. He should just do something else besides inventory though.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
3/20/09
A couple days late, but here is what happened on Friday of last week. I would've updated it instantly on Friday, 'cuz, you know, I like to let people know what's happening in my life AT THE EXACT MOMENT that it happens. Maybe I should get a Twitter. Nope, even I won't sink that low. Anyway, I was busy after work on Friday, so here's your update now.
I got a promotion.
Well, not really. I like to call it a promotion though. It makes me feel special.
What actually happened is I got another responsibility added on to my workload for no extra pay.
There are two different types of pages in the nonfiction section of the library. There are daytime pages and closing pages. I am typically a closer, since, you know, I go to school during the day. Currently, there are two daytime pages. And in two weeks, there will be none. One of them went back to school full-time and wants to finish her degree (in what, I have no idea), so she can't work, and the other one... I don't know what she's up to, but personally, I don't care.
So the one that's not going back to school (she's about 50 years old, I am guessing) is quitting in two weeks. Apparently, she had a "special" duty (as did the other daytime page). That special duty was Recycling the Old Newspapers. I get to take her job. Since both the daytime pages are leaving soon, I will be the only page who knows how to do this sacred duty of Recyling the Old Newspapers.
It makes it feel like I have some kind of special skill, passed down only to those worthy enough to take on its heavy burden.
Recycling the Newspapers.
So what I do is, twice a month, I riffle through the newspapers kept in the Magazine Room (we keep several months' worth of archives of about 15 different newspapers back there) and throw the old ones into a recyling bin. Each newspaper is kept for a different amount of time. For example, Christian Science Monitor is kept for 2 years. Asian American Press is kept for 3 months. Star Trib is kept for 2 months, and Post-Bulletin is kept "until microfilm arrives". So it's a very special job, takes a lot of skill to do this, to check the dates on the newspapers and then recycle the ones that are older than 2 years or 2 months, whatever.
I also get to put out special folders and write the months on them. For example, I'll get to put out the April folders this Wednesday. Very important stuff.
When Donna (that's the old lady who's leaving, a daytime page) was teaching me how to do this, she explained it all very slowly, so I could grasp the true importance of this difficult task. I think I heard "Do you understand?" at least 5 times in the 15 minutes it took for her to train me. Honestly, I could've figured it out by myself. In fact, I already did their jobs for them sometimes when they weren't looking. Sometimes, the daytime shelvers don't do a very good job of Recycling the Old Newspapers.
I'm glad I'm taking their place. I will be the BEST Old Newspaper Recycler the library has EVER had.
Plus, it beats shelving carts of books for hours and hours on end. We'll leave that to the peons who are not WORTHY of recycling the newspapers.
But no, seriously, I'm really psyched about this psuedo-promotion. I have a large ego, and it needs constant stroking. This helps. It makes me feel like my 3 1/2 years of working there are finally paying off, like, I'm finally getting the respect I deserve. Recycling Old Newspapers.
I got a promotion.
Well, not really. I like to call it a promotion though. It makes me feel special.
What actually happened is I got another responsibility added on to my workload for no extra pay.
There are two different types of pages in the nonfiction section of the library. There are daytime pages and closing pages. I am typically a closer, since, you know, I go to school during the day. Currently, there are two daytime pages. And in two weeks, there will be none. One of them went back to school full-time and wants to finish her degree (in what, I have no idea), so she can't work, and the other one... I don't know what she's up to, but personally, I don't care.
So the one that's not going back to school (she's about 50 years old, I am guessing) is quitting in two weeks. Apparently, she had a "special" duty (as did the other daytime page). That special duty was Recycling the Old Newspapers. I get to take her job. Since both the daytime pages are leaving soon, I will be the only page who knows how to do this sacred duty of Recyling the Old Newspapers.
It makes it feel like I have some kind of special skill, passed down only to those worthy enough to take on its heavy burden.
Recycling the Newspapers.
So what I do is, twice a month, I riffle through the newspapers kept in the Magazine Room (we keep several months' worth of archives of about 15 different newspapers back there) and throw the old ones into a recyling bin. Each newspaper is kept for a different amount of time. For example, Christian Science Monitor is kept for 2 years. Asian American Press is kept for 3 months. Star Trib is kept for 2 months, and Post-Bulletin is kept "until microfilm arrives". So it's a very special job, takes a lot of skill to do this, to check the dates on the newspapers and then recycle the ones that are older than 2 years or 2 months, whatever.
I also get to put out special folders and write the months on them. For example, I'll get to put out the April folders this Wednesday. Very important stuff.
When Donna (that's the old lady who's leaving, a daytime page) was teaching me how to do this, she explained it all very slowly, so I could grasp the true importance of this difficult task. I think I heard "Do you understand?" at least 5 times in the 15 minutes it took for her to train me. Honestly, I could've figured it out by myself. In fact, I already did their jobs for them sometimes when they weren't looking. Sometimes, the daytime shelvers don't do a very good job of Recycling the Old Newspapers.
I'm glad I'm taking their place. I will be the BEST Old Newspaper Recycler the library has EVER had.
Plus, it beats shelving carts of books for hours and hours on end. We'll leave that to the peons who are not WORTHY of recycling the newspapers.
But no, seriously, I'm really psyched about this psuedo-promotion. I have a large ego, and it needs constant stroking. This helps. It makes me feel like my 3 1/2 years of working there are finally paying off, like, I'm finally getting the respect I deserve. Recycling Old Newspapers.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
3/12/09 & 3/15/09
Everyone knows that the library is basically a safehouse for homeless people, at least during the day. Even more so than usual in this economy, as we find jobless and homeless people left and right.
There's this guy that comes into the library all the time, he's got mad scientist-like white hair, glasses, and he's always eating junk food, looking at maps, and then composing lengthy letters/anecdotes/research dissertations. I've always tried to look over his shoulder to see what he's writing, but his handwriting (yeah, he does this all by hand) is so tiny. The one time I managed to see anything of substance, I was heavily confused. He had left to go to the bathroom, so I snuck a peek at his composition.
It was a letter, I think, and it was detailing a memory of a divorce. It was like a memoir, in letter form. There was a map of Michigan and several Reeses Peanut Butter Cup wrappers next to it.
Anyway, this guy is one of our library "regulars", and usually he sits by himself. Lately though, he's gained a small posse of (1) Spanish woman (1) young white man with self-esteem issues and (1) hefty black man who likes junk food almost as much as our friend the mad scientist.
I have recently learned that 2 out of those 3 posse members are homeless.
I was doing my job as a professional creeper, listening in on their conversations.
"You can't stay with Ricky every night, we need to find you a place to stay. ... I know it's tough, you have nowhere else to go, but once the weather gets better, things will hopefully be easier, etc."
I don't know what the black dude does except wink at me, make awkward remarks about my clothing, and eat sunflower seeds (but I do know he is also homeless), and the whit guy with the self-esteem issues only sits with the mad scientist so that the scientist can up his ego. It's like Mad Scientist is Esteemless Man's mentor or something. He's always lecturing him like, "Life is hard, but you gotta push through, yadda da..." stuff like that. Very interesting.
It's the Spanish chick who is the saddest story of all. I can tell that the Mad Scientist really cares about her. He tries to help her so much. He buys her food (junk food, yeah, but, I guess it's the thought that counts). Today she had a 2-liter of Mountain Dew with her. Mad Scientist says to her, "I see you've got a new sodapop. Did you already drink the Coke I gave you?"
She looked a little sheepish and nodded.
"That was a lot of Coke," Mad Scientist said.
The Spanish woman muttered something unintelligible.
"That was 2 liters. Did you really drink all of it?"
"I was thirsty."
Seriously, they dragged on this conversation about the soda for a good 2 more minutes. It was really sad. And then I was so annoyed with the fact that the Mad Scientist is buying these poor people JUNK FOOD. It doesn't make sense either economically or healthfully. Okay, water isn't cheap either, but even knock-off brand soda would be better than buying Mt. Dew for homeless people. It's worse in the long run because 1) It will rack up expensive dentist bills, should the homeless person decide to go to the dentist (so if you bought water, you probably wouldn't need to go to the dentist!) 2) It dehydrates you, and therefore makes you sicker, less energetic (due to the crash). If you lack energy and aren't feeling well and can't get your liquids replenished because the only berverage you have is SODA, well... it's just worse off for you. 3) It makes you FAT.
... I say this as I am drinking a Pepsi.
I have been doing really good with not drinking soda! I've been sick for a week, so I've been drinking water, but DAMN today I just had a wicked craving for sugary drinks. So I grabbed a Pepsi. So sue me. I'm menstruating; I deserve it, along with those Girl Scout cookies I devoured today.
But this is a blog about workstories.
Another person I met today was this really tall black dude with bad teeth looking for issues of the Chicago Tribune. We carry the Chico Trib at work, but for some reason we did not have the Thursday or Friday editions. I looked all over for them, I mean, I really went out of my way to help this poor guy. I felt really bad for him. All he wanted was the Chico classifieds. We have the Rochester and Twin Cities classifieds in a special little folder, but I guess he wanted the Chicago ones for some reason. I told him he should come back another day or check out the RCTC library. He said he couldn't go to RCTC because he didn't have a car, and he didn't have any money for a bus. He didn't even have any money to use the Internet computers and pay ten cents to print off a page of classifieds from the net. I felt like I should've given him a couple dollars so he could go catch a bus or something, but... I didn't. I rationalized it by saying "it's not my job to give people money so that they can potentially catch a bus". It's my job to help people find newspapers, sure, and I did everything I could. I did more than I usually do, which is saying something, because I'm kind of a really bad employee. But I did what I could. So I don't feel too many regrets.
I do feel bad about all these less well-off people though. It really make me grateful to have a job, a future, a house, you know?
So count your blessings, kids.
NEWS: No creepers today. Unless you count the Spanish woman, because apparently she just stares at you as you walk by (which is true, but I don't really mind because I know she has no malice in mind; it's that chubby black guy with the sunflower seeds that worries me...)
I'm having an incredibly tough time trying to find somebody to take my shift on Wednesday. It's frustrating. EVERYBODY is busy for Spring Break (which varies across our staff from now until the 2nd week in April, basically). And one of our employees is in Texas for a work camp, I'm going to Florida, one girl is in a play and can only work evenings and not afternoons, nobody works on Saturdays, and two of our girls can't stay past 7:00. It's so ridiculous. We need more people to work, but we can't afford it. We're so backed up in the mag room. It's stupid. And now we're being monitored even more closely... ugh. I will be happy - and yet sad - when I leave for college.
There's this guy that comes into the library all the time, he's got mad scientist-like white hair, glasses, and he's always eating junk food, looking at maps, and then composing lengthy letters/anecdotes/research dissertations. I've always tried to look over his shoulder to see what he's writing, but his handwriting (yeah, he does this all by hand) is so tiny. The one time I managed to see anything of substance, I was heavily confused. He had left to go to the bathroom, so I snuck a peek at his composition.
It was a letter, I think, and it was detailing a memory of a divorce. It was like a memoir, in letter form. There was a map of Michigan and several Reeses Peanut Butter Cup wrappers next to it.
Anyway, this guy is one of our library "regulars", and usually he sits by himself. Lately though, he's gained a small posse of (1) Spanish woman (1) young white man with self-esteem issues and (1) hefty black man who likes junk food almost as much as our friend the mad scientist.
I have recently learned that 2 out of those 3 posse members are homeless.
I was doing my job as a professional creeper, listening in on their conversations.
"You can't stay with Ricky every night, we need to find you a place to stay. ... I know it's tough, you have nowhere else to go, but once the weather gets better, things will hopefully be easier, etc."
I don't know what the black dude does except wink at me, make awkward remarks about my clothing, and eat sunflower seeds (but I do know he is also homeless), and the whit guy with the self-esteem issues only sits with the mad scientist so that the scientist can up his ego. It's like Mad Scientist is Esteemless Man's mentor or something. He's always lecturing him like, "Life is hard, but you gotta push through, yadda da..." stuff like that. Very interesting.
It's the Spanish chick who is the saddest story of all. I can tell that the Mad Scientist really cares about her. He tries to help her so much. He buys her food (junk food, yeah, but, I guess it's the thought that counts). Today she had a 2-liter of Mountain Dew with her. Mad Scientist says to her, "I see you've got a new sodapop. Did you already drink the Coke I gave you?"
She looked a little sheepish and nodded.
"That was a lot of Coke," Mad Scientist said.
The Spanish woman muttered something unintelligible.
"That was 2 liters. Did you really drink all of it?"
"I was thirsty."
Seriously, they dragged on this conversation about the soda for a good 2 more minutes. It was really sad. And then I was so annoyed with the fact that the Mad Scientist is buying these poor people JUNK FOOD. It doesn't make sense either economically or healthfully. Okay, water isn't cheap either, but even knock-off brand soda would be better than buying Mt. Dew for homeless people. It's worse in the long run because 1) It will rack up expensive dentist bills, should the homeless person decide to go to the dentist (so if you bought water, you probably wouldn't need to go to the dentist!) 2) It dehydrates you, and therefore makes you sicker, less energetic (due to the crash). If you lack energy and aren't feeling well and can't get your liquids replenished because the only berverage you have is SODA, well... it's just worse off for you. 3) It makes you FAT.
... I say this as I am drinking a Pepsi.
I have been doing really good with not drinking soda! I've been sick for a week, so I've been drinking water, but DAMN today I just had a wicked craving for sugary drinks. So I grabbed a Pepsi. So sue me. I'm menstruating; I deserve it, along with those Girl Scout cookies I devoured today.
But this is a blog about workstories.
Another person I met today was this really tall black dude with bad teeth looking for issues of the Chicago Tribune. We carry the Chico Trib at work, but for some reason we did not have the Thursday or Friday editions. I looked all over for them, I mean, I really went out of my way to help this poor guy. I felt really bad for him. All he wanted was the Chico classifieds. We have the Rochester and Twin Cities classifieds in a special little folder, but I guess he wanted the Chicago ones for some reason. I told him he should come back another day or check out the RCTC library. He said he couldn't go to RCTC because he didn't have a car, and he didn't have any money for a bus. He didn't even have any money to use the Internet computers and pay ten cents to print off a page of classifieds from the net. I felt like I should've given him a couple dollars so he could go catch a bus or something, but... I didn't. I rationalized it by saying "it's not my job to give people money so that they can potentially catch a bus". It's my job to help people find newspapers, sure, and I did everything I could. I did more than I usually do, which is saying something, because I'm kind of a really bad employee. But I did what I could. So I don't feel too many regrets.
I do feel bad about all these less well-off people though. It really make me grateful to have a job, a future, a house, you know?
So count your blessings, kids.
NEWS: No creepers today. Unless you count the Spanish woman, because apparently she just stares at you as you walk by (which is true, but I don't really mind because I know she has no malice in mind; it's that chubby black guy with the sunflower seeds that worries me...)
I'm having an incredibly tough time trying to find somebody to take my shift on Wednesday. It's frustrating. EVERYBODY is busy for Spring Break (which varies across our staff from now until the 2nd week in April, basically). And one of our employees is in Texas for a work camp, I'm going to Florida, one girl is in a play and can only work evenings and not afternoons, nobody works on Saturdays, and two of our girls can't stay past 7:00. It's so ridiculous. We need more people to work, but we can't afford it. We're so backed up in the mag room. It's stupid. And now we're being monitored even more closely... ugh. I will be happy - and yet sad - when I leave for college.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Work Stories 3/9/09 - 3/11/09
Oh, the things you see at the library:
- A man in a hooded sweatshirt staring out the window, seductively eating peanut butter straight from the jar
- An elderly gentlemen getting his jollies by looking at women's fashion magazines (W, to be specific)
- Asian people learning to speak English
- Man-woman checking her e-mail
- A bespectacled 30-something chatting it up with someone on "manhunt.com"
- A Vietnamese woman wearing headphones singing along to Vietnamese music on Youtube, not realizing that other people can hear her
- A chubby man who wears T-shirts with "witty" expressions reading Dilbert comics while a nearby college student on a laptop gives him worried glances
- A dark-bearded hobo who usually sits in a specific chair next to the skyway windows sitting in a different chair and not eyeballing me creepily as I walk in to work - I almost didn't notice him!
- Kids pestering everybody, including employees, to support their fundraiser
- The creepy Asian man popping out from behind bookcases shouting, "Boo!"
- Karissa
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