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.