tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75625052009-07-13T07:45:16.414-04:00The desperate life of a tormented library clerk.Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-90479267127201365592009-07-02T17:30:00.001-04:002009-07-02T17:33:40.320-04:00

Miss Information is what some might call frugal. Her friends call her cheap but tomato/tomahto. So the pennypinchers are her peeps. Usually. However, Miss Information is also a fanatic about debt repayment so people trying to get out of paying library fines really get on her nerves.The recent offenders:The woman on the phone began the conversation by asking why the man at the call centre had

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-74899140274463429772009-06-15T13:33:00.002-04:002009-06-15T14:06:57.271-04:00

On Saturday Miss Information got to help out with a computer training. She used to find these annoying but once she accepted that none of the students learned anything but none of them seemed to mind, she began to appreciate them as breaks away from the reference desk.This training, like all trainings, had an agenda, a goal, an objective. None of this makes any difference when the people

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-56095028601911421762009-06-09T17:14:00.002-04:002009-06-09T17:31:32.283-04:00

A couple of weeks ago Miss Information had another group presentation. It was going to be great. She had the material down pat. She was going to be charming and funny. She brought some ironically lame drawings to hold up. There were actual jokes! She couldn't wait.Her part was at the end of the presentation. Prior to this the professor got excited and interrupted to discuss at length the

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-43507781366247205732009-05-31T17:30:00.003-04:002009-06-01T15:41:53.910-04:00

Miss Information was having a peaceful and educational Saturday conducting research into the sexual proclivities of animals. What? A person can have hobbies. And seriously? Koalas may seem cute and harmless but they could keep Jerry Springer supplied with guests for years.Unfortunately this pursuit of knowledge was interrupted by a high school kid who wanted to find childhood photos of a World

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-50842171539480039872009-05-14T19:41:00.002-04:002009-05-14T19:55:32.011-04:00

Yep. The nice part of town seems to have some real weirdos in it. The woman with the wet jeans is still mad. Today she told Miss Information that she is not paying her fines because of the wet jeans incident. She also made Miss Information give her a printout of all her charges because she has trouble remembering the due dates. She explained that she has some pretty serious memory problems.

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-819803518786005352009-05-14T19:35:00.002-04:002009-05-14T19:40:41.431-04:00

Miss Information went to the gym tonight instead of working on those pesky school assignments. In the lobby there was a whiteboard promoting community centre activities. "Public Skate" it declared. "Please note: no public."So, um. More of a "skate" then. Miss Information actually has no idea what that means but it really tickled her.

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-70899218964583941122009-04-24T13:02:00.002-04:002009-04-24T13:09:47.104-04:00

Oooooh, is Miss Information ever annoyed. A couple of weeks ago she received a notice to appear for jury duty. She immediately went into a panic because the court date is only a week before summer school starts. Surely those axe-murderer murder trials take longer than a week. She called the number on the summons. Got in touch with a very nice lady who said that this wasn't a problem. If Miss

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-8301182185856868062009-04-19T15:34:00.003-04:002009-04-19T16:13:13.594-04:00

Apparently library school is good for something. It's a good buffer between Miss Information and...everything. So, while she's been trying to develop a philosophy of reference services ("Don't get stabbed"), she hasn't noticed how thoroughly annoying the world is. Now that there's a break between semesters and her brain is empty, it's all she can think about.One customer has complained

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-45176229706793432062009-04-14T13:45:00.003-04:002009-04-14T15:32:38.658-04:00

Speaking of denial, as Miss Information was a couple of postings ago, library staff are not the only ones afflicted. Miss Information remembers this time....It was a busy Saturday. Miss Information and one of her library buddies were in the staff room enjoying a lovely coffee break. One of their circulation desk colleagues came in, upset. One of the customers, she announced, was having a heart

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-27077428841023118892009-04-05T12:37:00.002-04:002009-04-05T13:00:03.559-04:00

Last semester, Miss Information was involved in a group project. The group broke up the work into 3 equitable sections, communicated entirely via e-mail and left each other the hell alone. Miss Information barely recognized her fellow group members on the day of the presentation but it went brilliantly. The professor said it was clear that they had a great rapport and enjoyed each other's

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-70756920154421485632009-03-25T11:29:00.003-04:002009-03-25T12:03:33.866-04:00

Miss Information is only working part time until she finishes school. This means she can no longer afford to eat. Coffee remains in the budget--how could it not? There are 6 coffee shops in the one block between the bus stop and the library--including 3 Starbucks. Three? Really?Well, anyway, this being part time thing means she usually misses all the good times at the branch. Except yesterday

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-87203886658481952122009-03-07T19:15:00.003-05:002009-03-25T12:06:18.083-04:00

Earlier this week a patron complained that a man in the browsing section had a cold but instead of wiping his nose on his sleeve like a normal civilized person, he was just leaning forward and letting his nose drip on the carpet. Apparently there was a puddle. Ew.On Saturday a customer interrupted Miss Information's pleasant thoughts to report that the lady sitting next to him was making racist

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-67092868527957854112009-03-06T13:12:00.002-05:002009-03-06T13:23:42.912-05:00

This semester Miss Information is taking a course on online searching. The first assignment involved 4 sample searches using Dialog. Now don't feel bad if you haven't heard of Dialog. It's irritating as hell and not nearly as pretty as Google, but Miss Information thought she had a pretty good handle on it.Last night she got her paper back. Of the four searches she messed two of them up very

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-46445214202089900352009-02-20T13:00:00.002-05:002009-02-20T13:21:08.785-05:00

Miss Information is now working in a library in a "nice part of town" and yet, there seems to be a lot of criminal activity happening which is not just limited to the team of purse snatchers that are working the branch. Miss Information hopes they're working together anyway. It's possible there are two completely independent theives on the premises. And talk about blatant! One of the pair was

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-57253879385285202052009-02-05T16:49:00.003-05:002009-02-05T17:03:32.869-05:00

Miss Information, it will surprise you to know, was never one of the cool kids in high school. However she recently had an inkling of what it feels like to be popular. It will shock no one that she found the experience profoundly annoying.Even though her shifts at the new branch are short, they are eventful--last night was anyway. Unlike the previous branch, the customers here are occasionally

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-78737773049121325142009-02-04T15:02:00.002-05:002009-02-04T15:20:16.709-05:00

Well, after one semester of part time courses at library school, Miss Information decided that it was in the best interests of her brain cells to get it over with as quickly as possible--the ripping the bandaid off approach to higher education--and signed up for a full course load.Because this did not seem doable alongside full time employment, she also began scouting around for a different job

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-44031970351303670222009-01-15T18:09:00.003-05:002009-01-15T18:31:43.557-05:00

First off it is unhumanly cold. "Dress in layers," say the meteorologists. Uh-huh. Miss Information has been dressing in 3 layers since fricking Thanksgiving. How many damn layers is she supposed to wear now?Of course today is a school day which generally involves a lot of outdoor kind of activity. This sucks! Her first stop at school was the cafeteria. She has learned the annoying and insane

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-16580228279051808072009-01-09T17:44:00.003-05:002009-01-10T13:04:21.974-05:00

Pft. Miss Information is still trapped in the world's most civilized library. The customers are, without exception, pleasant and polite. Some of them may actually be idiots, but since they never ask questions it is impossible to tell. They come in, quietly select books and leave without causing a ruckus. They pay their fines promptly and this kills Miss Information, without being asked. Sometimes

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-87263446427062052692008-12-21T18:06:00.002-05:002008-12-21T18:23:46.726-05:00

Two things about Miss Information:First: There are a bunch of things Miss Information simply does not understand. One of them is “the world”. It’s a biggie. Early in childhood she realized she could spend her life trying to understand it or fighting against it. Frankly both of these options require too much effort so she decided to find it all terribly amusing instead which is amazingly easy.The

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-29624886159753337752008-12-14T15:03:00.006-05:002008-12-14T15:33:34.714-05:00

Miss Information is still opening drawers and poking around hoping to find some meaningful work at the new branch. So far she's come up with nothing. There was a brief shining moment on Thursday when she spotted a new government document.It was one of those annual documents that supersedes last year's. Without pausing to consider why her new lifeless branch would even have something so cutting

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-69035676254018858692008-11-30T12:34:00.003-05:002008-11-30T12:49:32.582-05:00

So, it's about a week away from the end of her first semester at library school and it's time to reflect on what she's learned.Hm....let's see. A couple of weeks ago she had to teach herself powerpoint so she could do a class presentation. The presentation was actually quite delightfully content free. Miss Information had the content in her head, but didn't exactly do a very good job of

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-2615177097822496942008-11-24T14:19:00.001-05:002008-11-24T14:22:24.836-05:00

See, Miss Information is all about perception. Reality, she’s not that big a fan of. So, even though she is working in the dullest library ever, she still starts out each day with a sense of hope that something bad or at something interesting might happen to break up the monotony of the day. Her co-workers are not amused by this. Most of them just sigh whenever she bounces in full of hope and

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-22133398157629183752008-11-06T18:25:00.004-05:002008-11-06T20:17:36.785-05:00

Miss Information has been working at the world's most mellow library for almost a month but her pay stub has yet to follow her there. Here's the thing: Miss Information is not spending 7 hours a day working in this "so dull she's thinking about chewing her own leg off to escape" library for the good of her health, you know.When the first payday came and went with no stub, Miss Information let it

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-80066575571632778762008-10-30T15:12:00.004-04:002008-10-30T15:26:38.715-04:00

Well, it turns out that the frightening normalness of the new branch may have just been a feeble attempt to impress Miss Information. Now that it knows her, it's letting all the crazies out of the woodwork.Yesterday, an adult man appeared, coughed a little and then horked into the garbage can near the circ desk--conveniently situated next to Miss Information. After years of this sort of behaviour

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7562505.post-14735949862827310092008-10-26T12:11:00.003-04:002008-10-26T16:35:22.584-04:00

Yes! Finally! It only took two weeks. Two weeks of mind-numbing civility. Two weeks of well-behaved children. Two weeks of Miss Information liking people, enjoying their company and remembering that this environment is kind of the one most people think of when they think "library".But, whew. That's over. Miss Information is still working in the world's most mellow library--it's like the James

Miss Informationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06189230214867668098noreply@blogger.com6