My quiet and peaceful job (apparently)

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OK, so if anyone else says to me, "oh, you work as a librarian - I'd love a quiet, peaceful job like that", I might scream or just reply with ...

- Today I heard of a library where they have to employ a security guard for the after school hours because the kids are so rude, disrespectful and threatening to the librarians.

- This afternoon I had to comfort a distressed eight year old girl who had her mobile phone stolen and she was in the library without her mum, who would be picking her up from the library after she finished work at about 6:30pm.

- My co-worker had to spend the day recovering from being yelled at by a mother because the children's librarian asked if the screaming (for 15 minutes), tantruming toddler could be taken outside the library while they were trying to run story time.

Just a few 'excitements' from my quiet and peaceful job!

Comments

Sarah said…
As a former librarian, I know exactly what you mean except I didn't work with kids (opted out of that after a nightmarish prac experience).

I thought uni libraries were meant to be quiet until I worked in one. Oh and there are the rude students and lecturers to deal with (fortuantely they are a minority).
March 25, 2011 at 6:57 PM
Sandra said…
oh.....I'd love to work with animals, you must have a wonderful job. lol! One of my peers from uni who is no longer working as a Vet said that if the animals came in on a conveyor belt with a tag on them and she never had to deal with their owners she'd still be working in practice.
And if you only had to deal with the books it would be a quiet and peaceful job.
The problem with working with the general public is the vast majority are just delightful, it is the tiny minority that really stick in your mind and make your day really awful. I come home at times feeling quite ungodly about what I've been thinking (and sometimes voicing) about irritating clients- the challenge is to work out HOW to be godly without being trampled by those who don't treat you with courtesy, politeness and respect.
I do try to counter my thoughts by trying to remember how many lovely people I've seen that day c/f the irritator - though for some reason they tend to come in runs, the full moon is always a convenient excuse.
March 26, 2011 at 5:57 PM
Karen said…
Yes, I always used to think that librarians lived a fairly peaceful existence working in libraries. But dealing with the people is a very different story to dealing with the books.
I'm with Sandra (again!). I deal with a high proportion of so-called "difficult" or "complex" families in my work and it's very challenging to be godly some days when people make rude comments, or parents just exasperate me to the point at which I want to beat my head on the wall. Just need to think of the good ones when that happens...
March 26, 2011 at 8:33 PM
Sandra said…
perhaps we should write a book together Karen?
March 27, 2011 at 10:59 PM
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