Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Mass Exodus 2008 and The Demented Miss D Strikes Out

There are some days, weeks, and even months where everything is so mundanely normal and the events of the day go undistinguished from one day to the next. Sure lots of changes have occured at the SoCal Library. We had a mass exodus of staff members the like I have not seen for the past decade. It seemed all the stars were in allignment for a large portion of the staff and they left us to do bigger and better things. So it's been a little crazy with so few staff - but the kind of boring crazy if you know what I mean. Then as usual, human resources dragged their feet ever so slowly when hiring replacement staff. What they don't seem to realize is that new hires don't come out of the box ready with the knowledge or skills to do their job, which in turn, takes away more staff to train them until they're ready to be on their own.



As a result of the "Mass Exodus" and all it entails the Demented Miss D has become agitated. Too many changes I guess. She actually struck out yesterday and this is what happened...



Raiko does the banking every day for like FREAKING EVER, and every day she let's us know when she's leaving the building and going to the bank. Yesterday was no exception. Raiko let Penelope know that she was leaving for the bank and because we have been so short staffed Penelope was manning the circulation desk at that time. The Demented Miss D, overhearing dove in to the conversation like a starving duck at a wonderbread bakery. Using her stern voice she told the Raiko that she should never ever announce out loud on the library floor that she was leaving for the bank! Someone would overhear the conversation and lay in wait for Raiko and steal the money bag! She could be assaulted! It's just not safe! (and yes in principle I think she made a valid point) It seemed that Miss D's volume when speaking made it possible for the entire library to clearly hear her every word. Which meant that if there were any unsavory characters in the library she just gave them a new idea. Miss D threw herself into lecture mode and proceeded to tell the girls that when Raiko had to go to the bank that she should pat Penelope on the butt on her way out and proceeded to demonstrate by smacking ( not patting ) Penelope on the ass in front of god and everybody with excessive force. Poor Penelope. As a compromise it has been agreed upon to use the code phrase "I'm going to the grocery store" in lieu of "I'm going to the bank." Of which Penelope's reply will be ... "pick me up a gallon of milk..."