Council of Elrond’s Anniversary

No really, if you check your calendar, you’ll see that I’m right. Google Calendar lets you download all sorts of calendars that you can “overlay” on your own. The Tolkien Calendar says that yesterday Boromir arrived in Rivendell and today is the Council of Elrond. It’s also the anniversary of the Big Quake and my high school friend Christine’s 32nd Birthday.

Since the Council of Elrond has come to represnt all things work-related, it seems fitting to muse on work today. It’s hard to avoid musing on the workplace, isn’t it, when that’s where you spend so much of your time (unless you’re retired, in which case you are free to eat your Council Cake, or should I say Lembas in peace) ? I have a second round interview for a job I’m not sure I want. In passing, multiple interviews are sort of a sick joke to those of us who normally wear jeans day to day. Like it wasn’t enough trouble coming up with something to wear the first time around.

Anyhoo, yesterday I realized that if a friend of mine were dating a person who treated them the way my current work place treats me, I would tell them in no uncertain terms to dump the fool. And yet, as in so many great bad relationships, the idea of leaving this library kind of makes me want to crawl under the covers and hide. I hate my job, and I love my job, all mixed together. There is nothing tacked to any of the walls in this office in handwriting I can’t identify. When I look up titles in our on-line catalog, ninety percent of the time I only have to type a few letters, and the autofill takes over. I’ve looked up most books before. Thirteen goodbye cakes. Was it fourteen? I’m the only person who has cracked the code of the filing cabinets…oh, you need a new label for that? Look under F, for “Forms, Masters.” Are there such things as Job Interventions?

Well, gotta go, there is a desk with my name on it. No really, I carved my name into the Circ Desk earlier.

~ by meteowrite on October 17, 2006.
One Response to “Council of Elrond’s Anniversary”

1.

The only cure for job boredom, and it is the worst kind of boredom, is job change. In 33 years of State service I worked in six different departments, just to keep from going postal. One of us must take the ring out of the library…

Goodyear said this on October 19th, 2006 at 8:37 am

Undercover in the library

I have an interview at a local public library on Friday. It just so happens, though, that I have never been to this public library before. Their website is somewhat short on information. So there’s not much to build a *vibe* on. Do I want this job? Dunno. So, this afternoon, I went over there to poke around. Sure, there’s no law about checking out some place you’re set to interview, but I felt like I was doing something sneaky. I lingered near the reference desk to see how they were answering questions. I stole furtive glances at the computer being used to check out books to see if I was familiar with their software. I checked out their hours to see if I could piece together any information about what a schedule at this library might be. I browsed their collections, trying to get a feel for their strenghts and weaknesses. I surveyed their collection of Kay books. I watched the patrons….did they look satisfied? What parts of the collection were they using? What did they think of the computer policy? I tried to get into the restroom. It was locked, in use apparently. One of my moments of triumph : at one point the door marked “staff only” opened while I lurked in the nearby stacks. They have desks in there! I knew it!

I still don’t know. I’ve never seen a place so completely devoid of a vibe. Or rather, with so neutral a vibe. Yes, it’s a small collection, but hey, I saw plenty of stuff I wanted to read. Lots of magazines, and plenty of books on tapes. They have a small teen section, but they seem committed to it. Their building was small, but it was busy, people were using it. And it was in a lovely small downtown area. Harrumph. Guess I’ll know more after Friday.

~ by meteowrite on October 11, 2006.
2 Responses to “Undercover in the library”

1.

Oh jenn! I think it’s a great idea that you scoped out the prospective job location. My advisor would have approved. You’re doing your homework like a good girl. And when they interview you and ask you that first conversational question: Have you ever been to this library before? You can breezily answer, why yes, yes of course I have. You have a lovely books on tape selection and you seem committed to your teen literature.

You have the edge!
Break a leg!

jean said this on October 12th, 2006 at 9:02 am
2.

Back in the dark days when I interviewed people for jobs as a way of getting a paycheck those people who actually had come to the work site to scope us out always got at least a 10 point head start. I figured A: they were motivated, B: they had the brains to follow through, and C: they had enough analytical skills to know what to look for. Well done. (But how was the military history section??)

Goodyear said this on October 12th, 2006 at 10:23 am

Application of my dreams

I spent Friday at work reviewing applications for the ILL staff position we have open. Twenty applications. We’re also going to be looking at applications for a student position we have open. And then I’m applying for jobs, so I’ve been filling a few out myself. Which perhaps explains the dream I had last night. I was filling out a job application, on blue paper, and reading the instructions carefully I found the following:

If you choose to deep fry your application, please use the appropriate setting on your deep fryer.

Just a safety tip for you, friends. Be sure to set your deep fryers to “job application” before dropping those pages in.