Well first off… I honestly believe there is a snoopy comic for every single adventure or moment in life. Charles Schulz was a master!
In my past work life, we used to joke when things happened that were totally off the wall in attempt to make things a little more palatable that … this would make a great chapter in our book. We would kid about making up false names to protect identities. At one point, my husband pointed out that maybe you should NOT change the names and let them live with their less than stellar comments and decisions in life.
My new library job I have shared snippets of my daily work and challenges in my very locked down Facebook account (and yes changed some names also, just in case). And granted these are my friends but a few times they have said… you should really make this into a book 1) we had no idea library life was like this. We saw it all as books and shhhh-ing and 2) It is funny and sort of unbelievable.
The other day we had a patron complaint and after researching it, it was one of my staff, but it baffled me… this was really, really unlike her. We sit down and I ask her side of the situation. And it makes much more sense. It was one of those things that based on what side of the event you were on, you could see the different points of view. The library point of view, the kids were running around with two parents present and no one stopped them. She tried a few times to ignore it but they were flat out playing tag running in the library. She stepped in and said running is not allowed in the library. But she said it to the kids. The parents took affront because she was “trying to parent my kid and if she has a problem, she needs to take it up with me.” As her manager, I did not see a problem with how she handled it. Still don’t. But we brain stormed other ways to approach the issue (because it will come up again and again) and how to say it.
She left for lunch and when she returned, she told me she almost didn’t come back. I said, I knew that was a possibility when you left. She told me how much this bothered her and that she felt she did no wrong. I agreed, which is why we just talked it through and I was official done with this incident. And I told her about how maybe we needed to write a book, and this might be a strong third chapter. She laughed. We now have the phrase Who Does That? as our mantra when we have material for another chapter…like let’s say the Fried Chicken people or the is that really poop in the conference room?
Will it be a book? Maybe. Maybe Not. But it is a great way to defuse some of our ickier situations and highlight some of the wins.
kkdonk 