Hoop Nightmare

Got the job--of course--finally--but only after some excruciating weeks of pas de deux masquerade with Tara. I was feeling resentful that I had to interview for a job promised me, but I couldn't confide that to Tara and poison my reputation as an even-keel kind of guy, yet she felt free to needle me. A minor mistake from me might elicit a "That's going to cost you" or a "I thought you wanted to work here." Of course it was good-natured and I smiled and laughed on cue, but I was seething with inflamed pride over this bureaucratic circus and its whip stinging my ass to force me through another hoop. By the time I finally got The Call the catharsis I'd hoped for had dissipated in a slow burn.

The interview was as awkward as it could have been. I still had to dress up, and I was no less nervous, because Tara had been so good at not letting on to anyone else that the job was already mine that I began to doubt it myself.

Tara assigned the interviewees a writing assignment, to come up with an idea for improving customer service, and I wasn't exempt from that, either. Mine here probably shows some of my anger, but I tried to channel that into a passionate sincerity regarding the subject (i.e, it ain't lip service).

The best thing we can do for our patrons is to demonstrate a good attitude toward serving them. Our service is not a privilege extended to our patrons; their patronage is the privilege extended to us. We work for them; we're paid by them; we wouldn't have these jobs without them. Every aspect of our work should be performed with the patrons' best interest at heart. Every service the library provides should be given without hesitation, complaint, or expectation of gratitude.

It's not the patrons' duty to continue patronage; it's the library's duty to make them welcome. A job worth doing is a job worth caring about. When we care, we aren't discharging just to clear the bookdrops, shelving just to clear the carts, or checking out just to get the patron out the door. We are doing these things to bring the patron back.

She hasn't told me what she thought of it, but I'm betting it's a bit outside her expectations, for better or worse.