-3 BR APT, 1ST FLR; HEAT, GAS, WATER, HERO-FREE-
No heroes today.
Commuting to work has been an uphill slalom lately, but today took the yellow-snow cake. You can feel the loss of leverage, can't you, when you're sneaking in ten minutes late to avoid the evil grins of coworkers morally obligated to store news of your tardiness away until they need to deflect attention for some misdeed of their own? Can't you?
Oh, I didn't even get my coat off before the bad old veteran stomped in saying "I have a request."
"When I am dealing with a patron, I would prefer not to be interrupted. I am fully capable of dealing with the issues that come up, and fulfilling my duties. When other people come up and take over - and I know this isn't just you - it's rude."
Now, this request is motivated by the resentment non-professional staffers legitimately feel in the presence of overbearing professional librarians. I am not by nature overbearing, but feel the need to become so in the early stages of a new assignment when information about my duties is sparse. This I explained to him, and encouraged him to come to me immediately if he felt his role in the library was not being respected. Then I did something rather deceitful; I played on his greatest generation machismo, suffering so long in a previously all-female library:
Centering all of my energy in my Mind's Eye, I stood up straighter than normal and sank my voice one octave. 'Smiled as sharp as a raptor's beak. "We are both men" I rumbled, relishing my extra inches. "We can talk to each other without becoming offended."
He rocked back on his heels and made some awkward small talk for the next few minutes. Benedict - 1, Veteran - 0; but I don't feel entirely good about it.
Later, my boss (approaching retirement) was confronted by the library director about work she hadn't done, didn't know how to do, because she is all but computer illiterate. In this situation I am an observer, but you can feel it, can't you, the shame and empathy, seeing a kindly, grandmotherly woman getting dressed down for not understanding something they probably never trained her for anyway. I've only been at this site for two and a half weeks, but I already find myself attempting to take on parts of her workload to avoid scenes like this.
And unlike the veteran, she is all too willing to part with some of her duties.
Commuting to work has been an uphill slalom lately, but today took the yellow-snow cake. You can feel the loss of leverage, can't you, when you're sneaking in ten minutes late to avoid the evil grins of coworkers morally obligated to store news of your tardiness away until they need to deflect attention for some misdeed of their own? Can't you?
Oh, I didn't even get my coat off before the bad old veteran stomped in saying "I have a request."
"When I am dealing with a patron, I would prefer not to be interrupted. I am fully capable of dealing with the issues that come up, and fulfilling my duties. When other people come up and take over - and I know this isn't just you - it's rude."
Now, this request is motivated by the resentment non-professional staffers legitimately feel in the presence of overbearing professional librarians. I am not by nature overbearing, but feel the need to become so in the early stages of a new assignment when information about my duties is sparse. This I explained to him, and encouraged him to come to me immediately if he felt his role in the library was not being respected. Then I did something rather deceitful; I played on his greatest generation machismo, suffering so long in a previously all-female library:
Centering all of my energy in my Mind's Eye, I stood up straighter than normal and sank my voice one octave. 'Smiled as sharp as a raptor's beak. "We are both men" I rumbled, relishing my extra inches. "We can talk to each other without becoming offended."
He rocked back on his heels and made some awkward small talk for the next few minutes. Benedict - 1, Veteran - 0; but I don't feel entirely good about it.
Later, my boss (approaching retirement) was confronted by the library director about work she hadn't done, didn't know how to do, because she is all but computer illiterate. In this situation I am an observer, but you can feel it, can't you, the shame and empathy, seeing a kindly, grandmotherly woman getting dressed down for not understanding something they probably never trained her for anyway. I've only been at this site for two and a half weeks, but I already find myself attempting to take on parts of her workload to avoid scenes like this.
And unlike the veteran, she is all too willing to part with some of her duties.
posted by Benedict | 8:01 PM
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