Happy New Year

I will be spending my New Year's Eve serving food at a local homeless shelter. It's a part of my sorority's commitment to public servce. We provide and serve food to this particular shelter the 5th Monday. This month, it just so happens to fall on New Year's Eve. I hope everyone has a great time not matter how you choose to ring in the new year.

Seen & Heard While riding the bus

Yesterday evening when I boarded the bus, I went to the last row of seats because it was empty. I was then joined by a teen couple. When they sat down, the guy was rolling a blunt. Not 5 minutes into the bus ride, the guy yells while still rolling the blunt that someone has f'ed around and messed up his feung shui. ****Since when do thugs not only know what feung shui is, but pronounce and use it correctly in a sentence? At the next major bus stop, another teen boarded the bus and joined the couple sitting near me. The guy rolling the blunt continued to roll it, while he sold the other teen a very small portion of weed. The whole time I prayed, "Lord, please don't let them fire up while still on the bus sitting near me.

My temporary work location life is nearing the end

We finally have a date when the temporary library location will close. We will close in mid January and open in the new building in February. The waiting game begins. My department is waiting on a commited date from the Mayor for the ceremony. I have begun the opening day party planning with the team members from library management. I have done 3 walk throughs. The library is still far from being ready for opening. The crew has already broken some pieces of very expensive glass artwork. The glass has been reordered. That installation will take time, once the glass arrives. The public courtyard has the artwork and doors. The built-in benches are missing. The foliage is missing, and the trees are missing. The staff breakroom has cabinets that are partially installed. The lighting kinks haven't been worked out. There are still areas that lack proper lighting because the architect didn't foresee the possible blind spots. My staff is ready to leave. They are so excited. The district manager said we need to start weeding the collection as damaged books are returned. They began weeding the in-house collection that same day. I explained to them that we still have to have a collection of items for the public to checkout. But the countdown has begun.....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am thankful for life, a job, and my Mom.

I'm also thankful that I don't have to cook a big spread. The bad part is I still want a Turkey Dinner with most of the fixings.

How did I get so lucky you ask? Each year, my Mom says that she doesn't want a Turkey Dinner, this year I decided to listen.




Then , the weirdo from across the street
gave her a Turkey. Yesterday, she complained because I didn't offer to cook
it.

I injured myself on October 4th

I've been typing, well doing everything with 1 1/2 hands. I bruised my thumb, the area between my index finger and thumb, in addition to my wrist. I have a splint that goes from my thumb to the middle of my right arm. It's a pain more than anything, it's a constant ache. It doesn't throb anymore, but I can send the pain there with one wrong move. It happened at work, so I saw a Workman's Comp doctor. I know must attend physical therapy. I don't really use my dishwasher much, but I've become comfortable with using it now. I'm thankful that I have one now.

Management,s downside

There is a YT man who visits the branch that I'm assigned to temporarily. He has decided to harass me. Saturday took the cake, he called me racist(which he seems to be,) and on his way down the stairs, he called me a Black Bitch and then a Racist Black Bitch. In his tirade, he said some key words that let me know he has been down this road before. His actions this past Saturday will grant him a 30 day suspension, once security is able to serve him the notice. I was unable to complete this incident report that will alert security and managaement of this individual before I left work on Saturday. I'm off for the next few days, so I will complete the incident report from home and submitt it. So far, that's two individuals that have decided to target me. How do I know this, each of them will case the reference desk before they settle in on me. If I am helping someone, they will wait until I'm free. Atfer the initial reference interview, the harassment begins. In each case, the individual did not become aware of my management status until they became angered by me refusal to forgo library policy to accommodate them. It goes a little something like this, " I want to speak with the person in charge." The YT man from Saturday, " I want to speak with the highest classification on duty." (he has been down this road before because that it library jargin) In each instance, they found out that it was me and said, " I will file a complaint against you." My response, "That is well within your rights."

I've been at my new temporary location a month now

What I like: There are plenty of food choices for lunch or dinner choices( I work until 9pm one night a week.) I found a juice bar last week, it's only 2 1/2/ blocks away. There are lots of $1 stores nearby. What I don't like: I work until 9pm one night and it's Tuesday at that, my first day of the week. I have to take more than 1 bus. I cannot drive or walk to work. The parking around this branch sucks! Once again, I don't have my own space: No desk, no drawer, nothing.

Yoga Pants & or sweat pants for librarians

There is a manager who has on black yoga pants EVERY time I see her. She usually pairs them with a sweater set. I'm so confused when I see her. Does she really think it's okay to make yoga pants part of your work attire?

There is a part-time Children's Librarian who wears thick cotton sweat pants with the elastic waistband. They are so tight (picture leggings.). I wonder how she is able to breathe.

Day 2 of my work week

I have to substitute at my own branch library today & tomorrow. The librarian who normally works today, has jury duty. The librarian who works on Thursdays was in a bicycle accident.

Things are forever changing with my schedule

Due to the librarian shortages in the library system in which I work, I did not train the new manager this past Saturday. Instead, I was sent to cover for a branch manager who stated on Friday, that she would be too sick to work on Saturday. There was a program and two scheduled community meetings at her branch that day. I was supposed to train the new manager again tomorrow, but that's a scheduled vacation day for me. What does this mean? I'm not scheduled to report to a location this Wednesday. I have to call my district manager tomorrow, to find out where they've decided to place me. Change is good, and promotions are better, but sometimes I think that I would have been better off in my old position. This constant schedule/location change is for the birds.

The Good News, The Bad News, and everything else

The Good News: THEY'VE FINALLY HIRED A NEW MANAGER FOR THE SECOND BRANCH THAT I'VE BEEN MANAGING FOR THE PAST EIGHT MONTHS!! The Bad News: I HAVE TO TRAIN THIS NEW MANAGER :( Everything else: Last week, one of the employees that I manage told me that she likes how my hair looks when I wear it flat ironed. She added that it looks more professional that way. This week, I broke it down to her. I explained that what she said to me and the way in which she said it would have caused another person to curse her out. Because I knew that her statements came out of ignorance, I took the time to explain why what she said was offensive. Back story: My hair has been relaxer free for about 7 or 8 years. I wear it in it's natural state 98% of the time(Kinky/Curly.) The other 2% of the time, it is blow dryed and flat ironed because I have gone to the salon to have it colored and trimmed. The employee appologized and said that she didn't realize what she said was offensive. I told her that she now knows, so hopefully she won't make the same mistake again.

My quarterly Sunday

This past Sunday, I arrived to my assigned branch 10 minutes early. As the Acting HBIC, you have to send an email out to all of the branch libraries by 12noon. I didn't receive any problem call from the other branches. The problem was with the branch were I was assigned. I was the only one there. The only reason that I was able to send the email out in time, was because the custodian just happened to still be in the branch when I arrived. This is the same branch were the manager sent me an email 5 days before I was scheduled to be there, talking about don't be late(In January.) I haven't spoken to her since receiving that email. I could understand if she was my District Manager, but she's the same classification as me. She's a bit confussed because for a few months, they had her in the position of a temporary district manager. Even then, she wasn't my district manager. I didn't even work in the branches during her reign as District Manager. I worked with a different staff, the last time that I was there. I must remember not to chose this particular staff's rotation. Everyone was 10 or more minutes late to work. I got to work with the librarian who mistook me for someone beneath her the last time that I worked with her. I was at the desk when she arrived. She said, "Oh, AND YOU ARE?" I said, "Your acting chief of branches today." She tried to play it off, "And your name is?" I played along with her for a little while, and gave her my name, I even gave her a brief rundown of everywhere that I've worked in the system. I already don't like the manager at that branch, but that part-time entry level librarian is just too much.

Yesterday, I was a subsitute

Friday evening, 15 minutes before closing, I received a call from the assistant to the man in charge of the branches. She informed me that I was needed Saturday afternoon, at a branch that I'm not assigned to. Saturday afternoon, I had been in the other branch about 2 hours. A YT woman marches up to the other librarian and says, " I want that book, Think Like A Man by Tyler Perry." I said, "I think you mean Steve Harvey, and the title is Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man." The patron then said, " Oh, yeah, who did I say is the author?" I told her what she had said. The patron then says, "I just need to learn to say No. I just need to read that book." I said," Oh,ok." I turned back around to face the computer terminal. I couldn't even begin to touch that.

My 6 months probation has ended

I am so happy. I can finally take some much needed vacation days. Six months without a vacation day is a bit much. I was off two days last week(it ended 5/26/12,) and I'm off two days this week. Last week, I didn't mention my days off. I mentioned them this week and my Mom has already planned what she wants me to do.

My eReader Story

In December, my Mom received an eReader from a friend as a gift. It was the basic reader, my Mom decided that she didn't want that one. She wanted to return it and purchase one with all of the bells and whistles. There was one big problem. My Mom hates using the internet for any type of business transaction. Here's where I come in, I had to go online to obtain the online store's 1-800 number. She wanted to call them to handle this return. I thought that was the end of my part in this process. Nope, I was wrong. They emailed her the postage paid return label. Guess who, had to go online and print the label? Yep, that would be me. We're not done yet. The company received the returned eReader. They issued her an e-credit. Why did they do that? I arrived home one evening to find that I had to purchase the eReader with the bells and whistles for her with her e-credit and pay the rest with her card for her. I completed that and explained to her when to expect the new eReader. The new eReader arrived a week later. At the time, I asked, "Do you want me to show you how to use it, or load everything for you? She said that she wanted me to show her, so that she could learn how to use it. Weeks passed. I finally asked her about the new eReader. She said, "I don't like it!" I asked what she had done on the reader. Guess what, absolutely nothing. She didn't want to charge any books with her credit card, she didn't want to check out any books from our local online library, she didn't want to check out any books from open library. Why do you ask? She said that she didn't want any of the eBooks to disappear after 3 weeks. She only wanted to download free eBooks. When I showed her where the free eBooks were, she didn't like the selection. My solution, I told her that I was going to give her a giftcard for Mother's Day. I have been downloading books for her since then. Using the internet on her eReader has been another adventure with ups and downs(for me.)

Public service is just WOW

My library system allows patrons to check out 50 items total at one time. EVERYTHING is checked out for 3 weeks. The late fee for DVDs is $1.00 per day. The late fee for everything else is $ .10 per day. If you haven't watched all of the movies that you checked out in 3 weeks, that's your problem. Last week, a man complained that his fines were $50. He had more than 9 late DVDs, that were more than 1 week late. This system is so generous, if you return the item, your late fee is knocked down to $5.00 per item. That's no matter how long the item has been checked out. He wanted me to forgive the WHOLE thing. I told him that I couldn't see doing that. I checked with my manager and because he said that he had been hospitilized, all was forgiven. Later I found out that he had done this last year. This week, a woman returned 5 DVDs that were months late. The library barcodes had been peeled off. She complained about the late fees and the $1 per label fee that she would be charged. I found out about the incident afterward. I wanted to know why she decided to bring the DVDs back. It looked as if they planned to keep them. We had a teen try to steal a Wrestling DVD last Friday. How did I know it was him. He was the only one of his group who checked out anything, and all he checked out were wrestling dvds. Today, the same teen came into the library eating suflower seeds. I informed him that he couldn't eat in the library. 20 minutes later, what do I see? THe had opened a (closed) window, raised the blinds and proceeded to spit the shells out the window. I kicked him out for the rest of today.

I volunteered to work today

Kinda sorta. We have to work 1 Sunday each quarter. I chose today because I knew a lot of people wouldn't want to work today. I had worked Easter Sunday 5 years in a row, in my previous position. This year was different. I was HNIC, or HBIC, however you want to describe it. Luck was on my side because nothing happened. The last Sunday the I was in charge(my first time,)3 branches had staff call-out sick. I had to juggle staff from 1 location to another. I was stressed from 12-1pm(the time in which the branches open on Sunday.) The only thing I had to deal with was the non-stop telephone calls asking if we were open today.

2 Days Notice.......Just Wow

Yesterday, the Library Technical Assistant at my branch informed me that the director of the Y(district vice president) where we are housed, informed her that they want the library to close for 1 week in April 2012. I don't normally work there on Wednesdays, but I stopped by to drop off receipt paper. When I received the news, I said, now she knows that she signed the contract for the library to rent this space with the dirstrict manager. Therefore all issues regarding things like this should be brought to her. Well, the district manager is on vacation until mid April. Why do they want us to close, you ask? Well, they plan to remove the ceiling tiles that just happen to contain asbestos. The director said, "Oh, you guys can remove some of the library collection downstairs, so that the library can open down there for a week. Please talk to the manager(me.) First of all a decision that big, isn't my call. I sent the Chief of Branches an email, because he wasn't in the office. He even said that he needed to address the problem with the library administration. I am so ready for the library to vacate that building.

What a library story

I'm sure that I wrote somewhere on here that the mini version of the library that I manage is inside the local YMCA. Well the YMCA is housed in my old elementary school building. This building was old when I went there. Management at the YMCA decided to begin necessary renovation and failed to notify the library system. I guess they thought it wasn't necessary. It was quite necessary because they had the old asbestos ceiling tiles removed. This construction work took place on the same floor as the library. Since I'm only at the library about 11 hours per week, the bulk of the tile removal took place while I was working at another location, or on my days off. Two weeks ago, I received a call at home from the Library Tech. She informed me that the fumes from the painting were so strong that they called upper management and the library was being shut down for the remainder of the day. That was a Monday. The following Tuesday when I arrived at work, I received a call from upper management asking me to go over to my branch. I was asked to determine if the fumes were too strong for the staff to be in the library. I was to do this everyday. The branch ended up being closed for the whole week. I explained to upper management what type of construction was being performed. They still wanted me to go to the branch everyday to determine the level of the fumes.

Tagged/Award Recipient.

Gorgeous Puddin is the cause of this post

Rules for Blog on Fire: Reveal 7 things about yourself. Pass the award onto 10 other deserving bloggers I will reveal the 7 things about myself, but I won't be passing the award on to others. I don't follow enough bloggers to do so. Here it goes: 1. Are you currently doing what you want to do in life? There are days when I wonder. I thought this was something that I would enjoy and sometimes I do. Having received my degree from a private university, it was rather expensive. I'll be in this profession a while, so far, I've been doing this for 12 years. 2. What is your absolute favorite way to have fun? Going out with friends and catching up on each others lives. 3. How many siblings do you have and what birth order are you? I have 2 siblings, brother and sister. I am the youngest. 4. What's your fantasy car. I have a few, but the Maybach is one that I don't seen in my near future. 5. Where is the last place you vacationed? Silverdale, Washington 6. Do you wear jewelry and do you prefer gold or silver! I do wear jewelry, usually yellow or white gold. 7. What's the best thing you've ever eaten? I don't think anything is the best, but what I go back for oftern is the Thai Basil Chicken Fried Rice and Spicy Calamari Salad at Lalita Thai 8. What colors is your bathroom decorated with? Disclaimer-All of my bathrooms need to be remodeled. The original bathroom is yellow and baby blue ceramic tile, so there's a baby blue rug. The towel colors vary between light blue, dark blue, and grey. The master bathroom has beige ceramic tile surrounding the tub, everything else is white, stainless, or clear. The towels vary stripped, grey, and dark blue. 9. How often do you exercise? I walk everyday. I don't spend enough time walking. Some days 40 minutes, some days only 20. 10. Do you want children? If you have children do you want more? I don't have any children. I think my time for having them has expired. 11. What is your least favorite food? If you had to eat it for 1 month for a million dollars could you? Chitterlings are my least favorite. I don't think that I could eat them for 1 month. It's been so long since I've had pork, it makes me sick to my stomach now.

Two Month Anniversary

Tomorrow is my two month anniversary for my new position. I'm still waiting for them to hire a manager for the 2nd branch that I supervise. The only answer I've gotten so far regarding the hiring process is, "It takes time." Meanwhile, I'm in limbo. I'm the manager of the 2nd branch, but not really. Their District Manager works in the branch on Mondays. A patron put up a fuss last week because she had received a notice in the mail regarding overdue books. The patron claims that she and her son returned the books on January 3rd. That was one of the bussiest days for processing returned books. The technician who helped the woman cleared her library record of the charges, because the books were found on the shelves(by her, not us.) That wasn't enough, she insisted on speaking to the Branch Manager, not the woman's supervisor. When I walked out of the staff room and approached the woman, there was a brief momment where I saw shock in her eyes. She managed to snap back real quick. She gave her version of the events. I told her that if she was still unhappy with the service at our branch, she could submit a complaint form. That wasn't enough either, because she told me that she wanted someone to personally follow-up on her complaint. I then said that I would attach a letter to the complaint. The letter would be sent to the District Manager. While the woman completed the complaint form, I sat down to compose the letter. As I was typing, the woman said, "Oh, I don't mean to make such a fuss." I thought, yes you do. You just didn't realize that the Branch Manager is a black woman. This week, I've had my first two experiences with the patron who calls and ask you if a DVD is in your library. After you search for the DVD, she then says that she doesn't want to reserve it. She did that twice today. She did it yesterday, Saturday, and Friday. The staff informed me that this was the patron's pattern in the past. It got so bad that upper management spoke with the patron. She could only visit one branch as a result. I guess she feels that enough time has gone by, she can resume her previous behavior.

The Hood Satelite Branch Library

Yesterday one of the teen girls who attends the afterschool program inside of the Boys&Girls Club stole two teen magazines from their protective covers. Lucky for me and unlucky for her, I have a friend who works with the afterschool program. I told my friend to be on the lookout for two magazines(Word Up & Right On.) I received a text at 7:30 yesterday evening, the magazines had been recovered and the girl lied to the end. Today, 30 minutes after we opened, a woman came into the library with two toddlers and a 9 year old. She said that she was leaving them in the library while she went to Zumba. I explained to her that we aren't babysitters. She said that her 9yr old would be responsible for the two younger girls. The mother also told me that the Zumba instructor announced this morning that children were no longer allowed to "Family Zumba Class." No one thought to call the library, they just told the parents, "Drop your kids off at the library." I went down to the front desk and asked to speak to whoever was in charge. I gave him a copy of the Library Guidelines, and highlighted the sentence that says children under 8 years of age aren't allowed in the library without a parent or another responsible individual. We have 8 chairs for patrons, 2 30-minute computer stations, and two 15-minute computer stations. by 10:40 a.m., all seats were full and there were children standing around. Another parent entered the library with her son and tried to drop him off. I told her that the library was too crowded and there weren't any chairs available. She then asked, "So, you're telling me that we have to leave?" I asked, "Do you plan to stay with your child?" She said no, and I told her that they would have to leave. After she left with her child, another employee of the club approached me in the library. He asked me what could they do so that more children could fit into the library? Could they bring more chairs? I told him no, because more chairs would mean that people wouldn't be able to walk around and it was already crowded. 11:30a.m. rolled around and the parents began arriving to pick-up their children. Did they enter the library quietly and retrieve their children......That would be a definite NO! They were half-way to the entrance of the library and began yelling for their children. The Boys & Girls Club Staff tried to reassure that this was the first and only Satruday that this would happen. I am not convinced. The Zumba Class has been free so far, but they said that effective Januray 28th there will be a fee. They expect that the class participation will change drastically, once a fee is in place.

Lots of progress and then......

Right back where we started. I received the outline for my Performace Goals via email today. As I read them, I noticed that these are things that this woman didn't do when she was a branch manager. The open lines of communication with staff is a big one. The portion of my duties that really gets me wondering is the dual branch manager. I have worked in this library system for 10 years, 3 of them part-time. Not once has a new branch manager been assigned 2 branches. This is supposed to be temporary, but so far, they haven't found any takers. I have two district managers, two branch manager reports are due the 2nd week of the month. I don't even want to think about performance plans and evaluations, because I have double of every staff classification. This is my mini update for you. I have to take the time to give a little more about my first month in my new classification.