Thursday, August 27, 2020
More Messi and me
As I write this, credible news sources report that the all time greatest soccer player and person whose goals I like to describe here in some of my least popular posts, Leo Messi, has expressed his intention to leave Barcelona, his football club of 20 years. What will happen now is anyone's guess, but the mere possibility of this enormous legend leaving the club he is so magnificently identified with, while still not far over the peak of his considerable powers, is the kind of thing that causes me to reconsider things that I never thought I'd reconsider.
Like Messi I have been with my employer, the library in my case, for decades. Like Messi I am strongly identified with them by the public. and like Messi I always thought I would play out my whole career in this one place.
But like Messi circumstances and staff have damaged the institution I love. Like Messi institutional and management incompetence have hurt my library and squandered my talents and joy. And like Messi this is not the same top notch institution I was once so proud to represent.
While I, possibly yet like Messi, still hold out hope that my institution can find and reclaim itself, and that I can still sail through my final years here in grace and harmony, I too can accept the possibility of dramatic change. I too can see, against all expectation, that something different may be required.
So let it be known to the libraries throughout the World:
I am available.
I am asking for a hundred million euros a year, and I really only want to work for a serious, great, and truly competitive library. I need to make the most of my few remaining library years.
But at this point everything is in the air.
And everything is negotiable.
3 comments:
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Oh, my...! Congratulations on even considering a change. I've been in that position several times over m lifetime, and it isn't easy to even take that first step. It can be a bit difficult to know how serious you are, and I'm sure that's deliberate on your part. Also, you probably wrote this last week and it posted itself automatically while you have moved on to a happy place within the library's fold.
ReplyDeleteBut somehow I think that this time you're serious.
Would you be amenable to working for a neighborhood tiny library? There are several in our little town of Meiners Oaks. Though they are the size of large mailboxes, they have great style and no checkout system; they also accept donations without any need to put the book(s) into the system. They do not have databases, but have been know to have perching birds. I can act as your agent, if you'd like.
ReplyDeleteYES!
DeleteIT sounds glamorous. And I am a humble man asking for little. A mere six figure salary guaranteed for five years and TOTAL autonomy. As my agent you get ten percent!