Saturday, September 29, 2012

This week at the library; or, The weather is perfect so why am I sick?

Programs
  • Preschool Interactive, Wednesday at 10
  • Lego Club, Thursday 3:30-5
  • We Explore Monsters (and costume swap), Friday at 10
Random Commentary
  • Siiiiick all last weekend. Not a good start to the week. No zoo trip for me *sob*. My We Explore program is proving very, very stressful. Hopefully I will be able to relax about it soon...new resolution. All complaints, suggestions, etc. will be met with "Thank you for letting me know. I'll certainly look into that." No more trying to explain, justify, or convince people. Next up, I'll work on some deep zen breaths and ignoring the silent dislike I feel emanating from certain parents.
  • An even more Mondayish night than usual. Fish tank sprang a leak (fortunately the teen who takes care of it lives up the street and he hopped on his bike and came over to fix it), some very unhappy patrons (computer-related of course), the website crashed while I was trying to update it, and it was unusually busy.
  • Still feeling sick on and off most of the week. Some days I wake up and think how nice it is to do lots of different things and I am excited about all the programs and other projects. Some days I wake up and think how nice it would be, just once, to go to work and not have a mile-long to-do list, to not have programs every day and not feel guilty about it, to have someone else worry about publicity and to not have to deal with the public computers. To not have panic attacks before every program, wondering if people are going to come, if enough people will come, if my numbers will be good, if people will like it, if they will complain, if they will come back.
  • Some days I wonder if I'm the only librarian not on happy pills and where can I get me some?
  • Some days I just want to be a cataloger again.
  • Had to turn away people for the first time from the 10am session of Pattie's Toddlers 'n' Books. Some people were disappointed but understanding. Some people were NOT. Everyone complains that the storytimes are too big, too crowded, too noisy, too chaotic, but they never want to be the ones to come at a different time or miss storytime a week here and there. I don't think I can take the stress of lottery registration. Feel even sicker. Might do pre-registration next session.
  • Collected all the kids in the library and walked a couple blocks down the street to get giant boxes (nobody's car was big enough). They were hot but helpful!
  • Lest you think it is all about me, I will add that I am not the only sick person. So far, out of our 15 staff 7 are or have recently been ill, ranging from a life-threatening illness and completely debilitating back pain to random sicknesses and one is leaving - she found a job that will enable her to only work full time during the week and her part-time jobs only on the weekend, instead of all of them simultaneously. Apparently she decided to stop getting rich off doing nothing in public service (quote from member of the city council, another source of stress). I voted that we take a group trip to the doctor on staff work day, instead of doing inventory.
  • I have a new volunteer. An adult volunteer. I mean, my 12 year old girls over the summer were awesome (very!) but this is a whole new ballgame. I just wave at stuff and voila, it's DONE!
Approximate hours this week
  • Monday, 12-8
  • Tuesday, 9-5
  • Wednesday, 9-5
  • Thursday, 8:45-5:45
  • Friday, 9-12:30
  • Saturday, 9:40-2
  • Managed lunch every day, even if it was just something to drink b/c siiiiick

No comments: