What a day

I thought my day was going well. I was early and it only took 2 1/2 circles around the block for me to find a parking space up the hill. 5 minutes before we were scheduled to open, we get an urgent call. One of the other branches is short a librarian. This means that I must go there. I was all the way on the other side of town. It took me 30 minutes to get there and another 15 minutes to find a parking space.

ANNND, they were no longer in need. The other librarian arrived at 1 minute to 1:00 p.m. and they were unable to let me know. This means that I drove back to the other side of town. Not only was I tired, but I was mad. This is the sixth day of my 11 days of work without a day off and they have me driving all over town. I did find an even better parking space that is closer to the library. Sunday traffic does exist and in a tourist town, it can drive a native crazy. Why must you look at everything while you drive. Why not park your car and walk around. Better yet, since you are obviously not familiar with the city; why not ride the bus, cable car, or metro?

Now, on to my gripes about the ghetto library. I was given a performance appraisal this past Wednesday. I have worked at this place for over 1 1/2 years and this is the first one. My lovely boss sent me an e-mail the day before it was handed to me. In the e-mail, she asked me to give her two goals for me and then explain the manner in which I have accomplished those goals. I was floored, I have never had a supervisor/manager ask me to write a portion of my performance appraisal.

I received a negative review on an aspect of my position that was never discussed with me. I received an e-mail from the head of Chidren's Services three weeks ago, asking why I hadn't been making school visits. I had no idea that monthly visits were a requirement. In addition to all of this other crap, I am supposed to schedule visits with principles and teachers. It is hard enough just get either one to return your calls. (It took three days of telephone tag to reach a teacher who wanted to arrange a class visit. She would call and hang up. I would call and she wouldn't be able to talk. She would say that she would call later and I wouldn't hear from her. ) So my boss put in the report that I was lacking in this aspect of my job. She never mentioned class visits prior to this. I have decided to just "brush my shoulders off," because this evaluation was written after I let her know that I was leaving.

She wants to give my new bosses a tarnished view of me. That is okay, because I will shine no matter where I am. Hopefully, with two librarians leaving you within a month, the system will see that as a reflection of you. Neither one of us is leaving for a promotion. We are both making a lateral transfer. What does that say, if the people you supervise are willing to take a lateral transfer just to get away from you.