Friday, March 16, 2007

Heavy sigh...

Well, I didn't get either of the available positions. One of my interviews told me that I did do well enough, I had no answers wrong, I obviously have the knowlegde, I just needed to bring up more points under the "what skill have I got" and "why would you be a good addition to our team" categories. Which I knew.

I get into that small (yet surprisingly echo-ey) room and I metaphorically shrink. My brain shrinks, my voice shrinks and my ego shrinks. Tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney. I'm going to give Mark Hellman a call and set up some voice lessons with him; I'm sure it'll help with the incredible shrinking voice part anyway.

On the plus side, last night my name ended up on its very first "incident report" at work. Yay. I had an evening shift at one of the branches and this... person (and I use the term loosely) was making a pain of himself on and off all evening. Very loud and abusive and more than a little drunk (I detected an alcohol-based funk following him around). It all came to a head when he was using the pay phone and yelling into it. The librarian asked him to leave but he acted like she wasn't even there. So, the police were called. He left before they could arrive, though, so we just called back and gave them a description. He was ranting quite a bit as he left, mentioned that he had been on the phone with "The Major". Um. Yeah. I guess we're all in trouble now. (Please note sarcarsm.) He then asked me where the way out was. We were about 10 feet from the very obvious front door.

As we were filling out the incident report, a patron who'd had her own run in with shared her experience with us. He was extremely rude to her, using profanity... while her kid was nearby!

The pitfalls of being a public library.

...

Okay, reading most of that over in print, it doesn't sound nearly as tense as being there. But believe you me, we had some adrenaline pumping at the time!

7 comments:

Alisa said...

They do know you could actually do the job in your sleep, right?

Doug A Scott said...

Oh, yeah, they know that. That's not the issue. They score on a point system and I simply could not remember enough points to bring up, at least where my personal skills and qualifications are concerned. My selling myself abilities = suckage.

Alisa said...

So odd. It's not like the job requires you to go out and motivate people. You're just putting books away in order and not beating to death people who leave huge stacks of books hidden in the corners.

Oh, and the Richard Simmons thing? Hee!

Doug A Scott said...

Oh. Wait. Did you not know I'm a clerk now? Because I am. Still auxiliary, but a clerk nonetheless. So it's all a bit more involved now.

And I do hope I can stumble onto more nuggets for Disturbing Library Finds. :-) It's kind of random, though...

Alisa said...

Ah, no. You did not mention that. See how the blog thing works? Bringing people together?

How long has this been going on?

There are plenty of weird things in the library. I'm sure you'll be able to find something new at least every week.

Doug A Scott said...

I've been an aux clerk since last summer. And, despite having to deal with the public a lot more, it's so much better than being a page. You find those little things a lot less irritating when you're paid almost twice as much. :-)

Alisa said...

True, but it seems like there's a lot less opportunity to find a deserted corner and read a bit of whatever it is you are putting away.