Monday, September 25, 2017

The intolerable conditions











I have had it up to here with my manager! 

I was just sitting there, at my library, minding my own business, when up he comes.

"Uh, are you supposed to be shelving right now?"

"Sheesh!" I cry. "I'm taking a little break. Hello! Am I not allowed to take a break? Is that the new deal around here? No breaks for anyone!" Then I added, nice and calmlike, considering the situation. "You monster!"

And I could live with that kind of thing if it weren't for the constancy of the harassment I've been enduring. Just the other day I was handling the phones, and doing a pretty good job of it if I say so myself, when up comes my manager.

"Uh." my manager says, and he's practically screaming right off the bat there. "Did you, er, hang up on a patron just now?"

"Oh great!" I reply on the verge of tears, but trying to be professional. "Go ahead and take the stupid patron's side right off the bat! Don't even ask for my side of the story. Ogre! Tyrant!" And with that I ran into the bathroom and locked the door. After a couple hours I was able to leave the bathroom and go home sick.

And then, can you believe it, the very week I was back from the illness, an illness he caused by the way, he starts right in on criticizing my work. "Did you, by any chance, possibly shelve a cart of non fiction books in the fiction section?"

"Oh right!" I respond civilly. "Something goes wrong around here and immediately it's my fault! 'Hey, someone screwed up so let's go find our scapegoat'. Well, here I am. Go ahead and yell away. Go ahead and blame me! That's the easy thing to do!"

"Er." He screamed at me.

"You know what." I said. "I've had it. I don't care anymore! Fine. Yes. I shelved those books in the fiction section. And you know what? I'm glad I did! Ha ha ha ha ha! G-L-A-D you Napoleonesque psycho, GLAD!" Then I went and had a lay down in the break room.








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2 comments:

  1. Library LoggerSeptember 25, 2017 at 1:51 PM

    Not me, honest...but I had a co-worker in my last place of employment who fits this to a T. The main difference is that as far as I could ever tell, nobody ever corrected her. We talked about her a lot, but nobody ever took her to task; or if they did, it had no effect on her behavior.

    Shelving non-fiction in fiction, though...that did make me smile.

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    Replies
    1. Feldenstein CalypsoSeptember 26, 2017 at 7:17 AM

      Well, I suppose it is an amalgamation of various people, including myself :-)

      Of course, I'm more subtly making fun of the Managers as well.

      As to the non fiction in fiction, well, what's really the difference?

      Delete

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