Library? No, it's a Video Rental Store!

Last night, I felt like I knew what I was doing for the first time at work. I moved calmly and seamlessly from one task to another, didn't get irritated at anyone, didn't make any obvious, flustered mistakes, and didn't once apologize and tell anyone that I was new.

For starters, my feet didn't hurt. I swallowed my shoe-pride and bought a pair of ugly brown Crocs on Monday. I can live with the lack of style. I can ignore the color. Saints-Be-Praised, my dogs aren't barking anymore.

Second, I took in a container of leftover Venison Bourguignon and shared it with (read: pushed it upon) my co-workers. I put some in a cup and heated it up for my boss, so she could eat while she was swamped with computer work at her desk. She is now my biggest fan. Everyone else swooned a bit too. I am IN! (Thank you, Julia Child).

Third, I started identifying the small things that drive me crazy already, and working on solutions to those problems (because these things also drive everyone else working there a little nuts).

Who knew that the local library is actually the new Netflix/Blockbuster? Daughter Juli tells me that all the 'net blogs are touting money-saving ideas, such as "Don't rent videos, borrow them from your local library!" She says that she recently read a news article that said that Blockbuster has closed more than 800 stores, and that libraries are now the primary source for renting movies.

All I know is that when I got the library job I was thrilled, thinking that I'd be around all those BOOKS! I'd be helping people find research materials, deciphering the Dewey Decimal system, and sharing unlimited access to the written word with the world.

Instead, my two main activities at work are: managing traffic for public computer usage, and dealing with eleventy-billion DVDs. I check them in. I take them out of the cases, slip them into sleeves and file them alphabetically in the storage bins. I re-shelve the empty cases. Two minutes later, someone brings the same case back to the desk. I check it out. I find the disc in the storage cabinet, take it out of the sleeve and put it in the hard case again. Again and again. Over and over.

Yesterday, instead of re-stocking the empty cases on the shelves, I just let them pile up on the desk until they literally started sliding to the floor. My thinking was, if I put them back, people will just check them out again, and I was too busy to deal with it (the library was a madhouse since we had been closed for the prior three days). I was too busy defusing computer conflicts
("but I can't wait until someone else is done!") to get upset over movies.

The other problem is the DVD shelves themselves. They are too deep for the cases, so every time I do re-shelve, I have to re-straighten everything, pull out the cases that have slipped to the back, re-alphabetize everything again and shore up the sliding mass of movies. About the hundredth time I did this yesterday, I thought (in my best internal Jimmy Stewart voice) "now wait just a gosh-darned minute!" There must be a better way to do this.

I got out the yardstick and did some measuring. All I'd need is 12 pieces of wood, 1" x 2.75" x 35.25" long. I could slide these spacers into the back of each shelf--then, no matter how many times people messed with my DVDs, they would slide in to the spacer and STOP! They would all go to the edge of the shelf, and no further. Yes, I would still have to shore them up laterally, but no more digging and slipping and hiding!

I asked the director if this would be a good thing. She countered by telling me to just go to Henard's Lumber and get what I needed on the library's account. She also said "I like people who take initiative!" I felt like I had just won a gold star in Library!

And who knows, maybe someone will check out a movie, and then miraculously decide to read the book. It could happen, right? It would be a start at least.