Saturday

What I'm doing between questions: I was scheduled for 6 of the 7 open hours on the Ref desk today so the fact that I just got one "back" (2-3*) is the joy of the day. The goal otherwise: stay awake, blog, create an Amazon cart from our wishlist, and pray for the time to go fast with no crazy people. Several staff are out today because they got their second COVID vacc at the end of the week. Oh, and the always-present PLCC, the 2021 ed.

10:00

• Newspapers are out, staff PC is ready to go (except for printing passes for patrons to use the internet)...nvm, we're ready to rock and I've renewed books on the phone for two people and assured another guy we'd help him with copying when he gets here...9:50 and waiting for the regulars
• I can't stand it--I spend 10 minutes cleaning the goop and dust off the base of the sanitizer squirters. GROSS
• SSo, one of our daily guys, tells me that last week was his 43rd anniversary, and the 30th anniversary of his divorce [I know his wife, so this isn't totally out of left field] [and now he's just talking himself: "well, just don't kneel on someone's neck for 9 minutes...gawwh"]
• Dear Lord now we have a second member of the Greek chorus...
• Three questions/issues, one lovely long-time patron: info on local obit [nada], Wikipedia about Ron Howard, and enlarge a map of Morocco but just a little [took several tries, but we got it]
• Have I mentioned that my head hurts? 90 minutes post-aspirin, no improvement...sigh
• Three stations wiped down
• Plus two more

11:00

• [phone] Directions from nearby town to tiny subdivision on the opposite side of our town
• "The map you-all printed for me last week from the internet doesn't have an index. Should it?" (so, like Main St is at C6) [good Lord, I hadn't even noticed that Google doesn't do that!]
• [phone] Library in system asking to check an address in our town to be sure they are sending a patron to the right place to get a library card [they are]
• [phone] Direction lady is back asking if the road she needs to take is McCo... or McDo...; her instructions say McDo... but that road does not exist here
• Two more stations cleaned up, plus the Local History shelves where someone was browsing earlier
• [We have a Management Team group chat that we can plug into when things pop up, like "why isn't the pass-printer working?" earlier. It's all the department heads + the director. The last two Saturdays we've had a bunch of scheduling snafus; last week the director checked in for the first time at closing time after multiple people had to leave early for the day and we needed coverage. Today, again, we have coverage problems and several texts have gone out about random stuff (10-12, not 40)--absolutely no response from the director, nor has he even READ the texts! But we can "count on him" if we need him to come in...so he says. About everything. Meanwhile, I just found out a very dear friend will probably die today so I'm in stellar shape for work.]
• There are currently two patrons in the entire adult nonfiction/Reference area.
• ...three
• ...four (dude walks in and freezes in confusion at the sight of the "CLEANED" signs on each computer--"these are available to use, right?")
• "Why won't computer type numbers? Or letters?" [did for me...no clue....]
• "Why won't outlook let me log in?" [we reset her password and off she goes]
• [Meanwhile, Librarian C comes to tell me that we have patrons in staff-only areas, and she's sending someone home at noon* who had a surgical procedure yesterday...]
• [Turns out the map (C6) guy's adult disabled son was in the story room. He shouldn't have been but he's also not a troublemaker of any kind so...]
• Two more stations cleaned up
• [phone] "What time do you guys close today?"

12:00

• Rituals & sabbats [not in our system, so I ILL from one of the dozen or so libraries in the country that own this]
• [phone] Renew book
• How to print from personal laptop [download to app, or (easier) log on to our computer and print from flash or email]
• "Are these for us to take??" [screen cleaner wipes, and yes]
• Help with printing
• Extend time
• More help with printer
• [Phone] Custer's Last Sit [it's a play from 1950 so I'll have to ILL it after lunch]
• Librarian C comes to tell me that one of they guys in the back doesn't have his mask up so I go "remind" him--yay for security cameras
• Clean three stations
• Wipe down table and move chair back where it came from [this really annoys me--if you had to move furniture, how about putting it back when you're done, peeps?!]

2:00*

• [we are at less-than-optimal staffing--see, I speak euphemism!!--so I picked up an hour at Ref]
• Librarian C cleans off Ref Desk but I literally spend the first 15 minutes of this shift wiping down public stations that she skipped.
• Photocopy of a full-page newspaper article [I just do it on the staff machine on huge paper--easier for everyone]
• [My friend, mentioned above, died at 11. I am crushed]
• Finish the Custer ILL from before lunch
• Request for two self-help books, neither of which we own and he wants them today, so I just tell him to follow me to 158.1 and maybe there's something there that he can make work
• How to renew library card
• Clean another public station
• Check in with tech person who was waiting (and gave up) while I dealt with self-help guy
• Arthur : the dog who crossed the jungle to find a home
• Pokémon adventures. Black & White vol 5 [our copy has disappeared so I reserve a different library's copy and add request to the "things to replace" basket]
• Self-help guy and his partner are giggling together in the stacks. Desperate to know what they found that's so funny

3:00

• Boss finally figured out the chat feature...now that it's too late to help (according to him)--I just can't do anything but shake my head in dismay anymore
• More cleaning--I don't know how many, but the whole dang area is wiped down now
• My feet hurt, and there's exactly two staff members (me + a shelver) and one patron here...oh, wait, two tweens just arrived to use a computer
• And someone is stapling...seriously, I'm going to go into a coma, which isn't such a bad thing all things considered, but won't look good for library PR
• Tweens are leaving: one's in shorts (it's 62 out) the other in pajama bottoms--both in Tshirts and humongous masks

4:00

• There are, I think, two patrons in the building. Possibly only one. And 52 minutes left so that means there will be mayhem in 25 minutes as everyone realizes they need a DVD for tomorrow.
• Help with faxing
• Tech reports her day's work to me
• Hostage [due out in June]
• "Do I still have time to get online?" [it's 4:30, so...uhm, yeah]
• Clean more stations
• Adjust balance on "have time" woman [somehow she had a negative balance so that's weird]
• She and one guy are all that's left back her besides me and a shelver--I'm going to go do the last-minute tidying while they finish online
• Two people reading papers. Go home go home pleaseeee
• Everything's wiped down, scanner, fax is off, and I just need to turn this off and go.