Nonfiction Book Reviews

I had my yearly review done at the library about a month or so ago, and on it, there were two things that I was told I needed to work on: Coming to work on time, and not chatting so much with my coworkers.

Usually, people don’t find humor in the feedback on the “negative” portion of their reviews, but this just made me laugh, mainly because it summed me up so well.  I am not a morning person, so the three days of the week that I help open the library at 9:00, it’s a struggle for me to get out of bed.  (I know, I shouldn’t be complaining - 9:00 is not that early, but again: I am not a morning person.  Anything before 11:00 is too early.)  So yes, I need to be better at getting to work on time.

Then the “not chatting so much” part…well, that’s an even bigger struggle for me.  As I’ve said before, I’m an outgoing librarian, and I tend to like to talk to everyone.  I blame it on my parents (convenient, I know.  Of course, I claim the credit for my positive attributes).  But, I’m one of those people who has a direct line between their minds and their mouths, and I say pretty much everything I think.  It’s rather annoying at times, and apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks that.

Which makes it all the funnier that today, I woke up mute.

It all started yesterday morning, when I woke up with a sore throat.  Sometimes, my throat has just gotten dry during the night, and all I need to do is drink some water and I’ll be fine.  So I wasn’t too worried, until the drinking water trick didn’t work.  It really hurt.  The best I could do was a frog croaky whisper voice, and even that was only produced with considerable pain.  Yay me.

I debated: Should I go to work?  Half of me said that we’re busy, we’re shorthanded, and I can’t call in sick, and the other half of me said that I shouldn’t go to work and spread this (whatever is) to others.  The “we’re busy” half won out, and I headed off to work.

Luckily, one of my coworkers (Dan, I’ll love you forever!) was kind enough to volunteer to finish my shift for me, so I only had to work 4 hours yesterday instead of 6.  My boss, Martha, warned me that today was going to be even worse in terms of being shorthanded, so all I could do was hope that today, I’d be feeling better.

Except when I woke up, I was mute.  No whispering, no croaky voice, no nothing.  I could mouth words, and that was about it.  My husband thought it was the funniest thing ever, and spent most of the morning teasing me.  “What did you say?” he’d ask.  “You gotta speak louder.”

Ha ha.

But I really can’t get too mad, because quite frankly, if the situations were reversed, I’m sure I’d be razzing him even more.  It really is fun to say things when you know your spouse can’t respond.

Too bad I was the mute spouse…

I wrote out a nice note to my boss at home, telling her that I could do check in, or notices, or other jobs like that, but that I wouldn’t be able to work with the patrons today.  I didn’t want to wait until work and then have to either pantomime my problem, or have her stand there while I wrote.  I was all sorts of prepared, and I was proud of myself.

When I got to work and scurried around doing the morning routine before we opened, I kept glancing at the clock.  Where was she?  Martha (my boss) hadn’t shown up yet.  I finally went back and looked at the schedule, and realized with dismay that she had taken the day off, and had scheduled a coworker, Gennifer, to work with me.  I had already addressed my note to Martha, and would feel rather stupid handing it to someone else, but too late now.

But hold on - where’s Gennifer?  She’s one of those worrier types who shows up early, does everything like she’s supposed to, and constantly worries that she’s supposed to be doing something better.  Love her to death, as dependable as can be, and there is no way she would simply do a no-show.

With one minute to go until opening, I frantically scribbled at the bottom of my Martha Note, an explanation that Martha wasn’t actually working today, and Gennifer (her replacement) was nowhere to be found.  I ran it over to the reference desk, who spent a good minute or so just laughing at my predicament (again, muteness is hilarious as long as it’s not you it’s happening to!) and then she hurried off to figure out what to do.

I was stuck opening the front doors and letting in the group of patrons in the foyer who were waiting to come in.  Forced to help them get onto internet stations, I did my job completely mute, and felt dumber than a pile of rocks.  More than a couple of the patrons looked at me askance, and I could tell they were trying to figure out if it would be polite to ask me what was happening.

None of them did, until I helped a regular who said, as I scanned his card, “You don’t talk much do you?” I was shocked.  I’ve helped him more times than I can count, and I obviously wasn’t afflicted with laryngitis previously.  Have I always been quiet around him?  Never once in my life have I been accused of not talking very much.  In fact, if I could say one thing for sure, it would be that I need to learn how to shut up more often.

I couldn’t explain my situation, of course, and just smiled helplessly as his friend said, “Well, maybe she only talks when she has something worth saying.”  I could only smile at her too, unable to clarify anything.  I would have bet good money that one of my coworkers put the patrons up to this, except it happened just minutes after we opened, which I wouldn’t think would give them enough time to orchestrate it. Otherwise…

So seriously: What are the chances that this conversation would happen today, of all days?

They finally got someone from another department to come up and help me, and I was able to escape to go do check in and the notices.  They got a hold of Gennifer, who had no idea she was supposed to come in at 9:00 (Told you so! I wanted to say, but of course, I couldn’t) and she promised to be there by 10:00.  I pushed my way through the day, and finished everything I had to do, with 30 minutes left ’til the end of my shift.

I wrote yet another note and gave it to the director, asking if I could go home early, and she (bless her heart!!!) said yes.  I walked home, and as I contemplated the day, I realized: At least I couldn’t be accused of talking too much to my coworkers today, right?

There’s always a silver lining to every sore throat…

Havs

PS I’d love some feedback on the go-to-work-sick vs stay-at-home-and-don’t-spread-the-sickness debate.  What side do you guys take?  If you know work is busy and short-staffed, would you stay home if you had a cold, or go in anyway?  Any thoughts?

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