Not about me

A couple of days ago I was telling you about the recent unevenness in my work assignments at the library. I mentioned how in a bizarre quirk of fates and under some erratic management I was scheduled during a ten hour day without a single moment at the front desk. I am writing you from the tail end of that very day.

I worked both hard and not so hard today as is my custom. I answered a lot of phones ("WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? WHAT'S THAT? I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU ON THAT PHONE!") and mucked about an awful lot with my friendly automated check in and sorting machine ("NO! IT DOESN'T GO THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARRRGGGHHHH! STOP! STOP!). I shelved ("WHO PUT THIS HERE! WHO ON EARTH PUT THIS HERE!!!!!"). I handled all of our closing announcements ("THE LIBRARY IS CLOSING IN THREE MINUTES! EVERYTHING SHUTS DOWN AUTOMATICALLY! YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR WORK ON THE COMPUTERS! YOU ONLY HAVE SECONDS LEFT TO GET THINGS CHECKED OUT! HURRY!!!!!!"), and as the most experienced circulation worker in the library I consulted with my colleagues on special problems ("HE'S COMPLETELY CRAZY I TELL YOU! THAT'S YOUR EXPLANATION RIGHT THERE! HE'S MAD AS A SACK OF SQUIDS!!!"). But in all of that I did not spend a single minute at the front desk of my library. It was weird. But I felt that I held up pretty well under those unusual circumstances. Really it's the patrons I worried about; I'm afraid they suffered the loss of my calm and reassuring presence.