I'm not writing this

 

Because of course reading is a much stronger attractor for me than writing, despite writing - or at least composition - being just about necessary for me. Reading holds a stronger lure than a whole lot of things, really, and the only reason I have not read many books over the past several years is from finding other things to read. Mainly blogs.

It happened again, I think on my next shift after posting about the first time. A couple of children I was serving at the circulation desk were asking me if I am a boy or a girl. Definitely not the same ones as last time, but I did tell them also that it does not matter. Apparently my hair codes as female, and I did not get to find out what codes as male because they did not finish that sentence.

Had a frustrating time getting a patron to not pay us $5. He seemed adamant that he owed it to us, while the system was unequivocal about the card he held owing nothing whatsoever. A bizarre start to a shift, possibly the same one mentioned in the previous paragraph.

I have been holding on to a few customer service type grumblings, intending to post them sooner. More something to sigh over, unless it is happening right at the moment. For one thing, if you are not employed as a shelver at that specific library, you are probably actually making more work for people if you try and put items away yourself. That is a bit of a no-win situation really, because if you don't then there will be rolling of eyes at people leaving things piled up all over the place. So I tend to look at it as an exercise in mindfulness on my part, and be glad for the opportunity to bring temporary order.

Also, and not just a library thing, I definitely don't like it when I am working at some sort of service counter and a customer will bring me something to process for em, such as clothes to enter in the till and bag, or library items to check out, and then wander off to browse some more while I am doing that. It leads to people approaching an apparently available counter and wondering why I am ignoring them, or to the first customer having a longer wait while I drop or even undo everything I was doing in order to help the person who is actually right there and not several metres away. I often wondered if it were too awkward or annoying of me to stand there waiting for the person behind the counter to finish ringing me up, but now I feel more assured about that behaviour.

Finally, did you ever wonder why food and drink are not permitted in the library? It is because they smell delicious and library staff are not allowed to eat on duty (personal theory).

Meanwhile, the toy library and charity shop are going well still. In the former, a new toy library coordinator means I am no longer alone in my struggle to impose order, and in fact the resumption of other personnel has rendered me nearly superfluous. At the charity shop, however, getting paid shifts means my war on entropy goes poorly on that front. I hope to triumph through sheer force of will.

I still look forward to hopefully returning to university next year and being able to say "Sorry, I no longer have time to perform volunteer work". Mostly because I miss having more days that are entirely self-directed. Ah well, 'tis the cost of living, is it not?