In which it did not really rain

[altivo]

Despite dire predictions of thunderstorms, all we got today was a brief spattering. It wasn't even enough to wet down the dust. The sun was visible in a hazy sky most of the day, and there were real shadows. Not nearly as bad as they led us to expect. Saturday's forecast is similar to today's, so here's hoping they are equally wrong about that. Birding in a thunderstorm is pretty useless. You don't even see ducks. ;p

Message from another Audubon member today says that there are pileated woodpeckers in Marengo Ridge, and that the hawk Gary and I saw on Sunday may well have been a broad-wing rather than a redtail. Our count group is starting there shortly after dawn on Saturday, so if the sun rises we'll be looking for both.

Tess got to go out today (also yesterday) but this is the first time this season that I waited until afternoon to put her out. Consequently she was an ill-behaved pony about it. I'm not pleased. Fortunately I was still wearing my leather driving gloves and was not caught off guard, so no harm was done other than to her ego. (I won the argument quickly.)

Half day at work was light. I had stuff to do, but none of it strenuous. The only irritation was some caller who refused to believe that we were closed. We usually don't answer the phones on Thursday morning because it keeps us from getting other things done, stuff that is hard to do when the library is full of users. This one sat through the recorded message telling them we were closed, then pressed "O" to make the phones ring again, and repeated that process several times. All that does is harden my resolve to ignore the phone. ;p

For many years, the library was closed all day on Thursday to make up for the staff hours required to have it open on Saturday. About five years ago that changed so that we are open on Thursday afternoon and evening but not in the morning. A grant paid for the first year of staffing on Thursday, and the board agreed to keep it up rather than go back to no Thursday hours when the grant ran out. However, staffing is so thin now that with the budget crisis, I strongly believe we should drop Thursday once again. The boss isn't likely to agree, though.

Comments

[bunny_plush]

All that does is harden my resolve to ignore the phone.

All calls default to our Circ desk when '0' is pressed. I want to scream when someone calls first one line and then the other, pressing '0' each time without listening to options and then finally asking for Reference or our hours when we have a moment to answer.

One of the local town's libraries may close due to their town cutting funding this year. Without town backing they'll lose State matching funds. They've already cut their hours back but still cannot keep the budget where the town feels it should be. Really a bad situation as this is a post-mill town with low income residents who really benefit from having the library in their area.

[altivo]

Yep, that's what always happens when the "Me first and hell take the hindermost" crowd gets control. Communities with few resources suddenly have even fewer, and the rich become richer as a consequence. Ebenezer Scrooge was the first tea-party guy: "If they be like to die, then let them do it and decrease the surplus population." After all, if people are poor, then it's their own fault. Just as people born into wealthy families somehow "earned" that privilege. Gah.

Yeah, "O" rings at circulation first but only for four rings. If not picked up, then every extension in the building rings twice before the call goes to voice mail where the hours message is played and then they get a chance to dial a specific extension or leave a general message... or press "O" again.

One time I got tired of the ringing and picked up when the library was closed, only to be confronted with a nut who was using a cell phone to call from the parking lot and complain that the door was locked. "What do you mean, you're closed? You never used to be closed on Thursday." They think they can win by bullying. He demanded that I unlock the door for him, and I refused. The last time the library was normally open on Thursday (and then too, only in the afternoon and evening) was in the 1970s. From about 1978 until 2007, we were closed all day on Thursday. He wasn't there for real library resources, of course. He wanted to use a photocopier. Other places within a few blocks have that service available. His response was that they charge more than we do. I guess we should raise our prices.

Of course this always devolves into the "I pay taxes" argument, and then "I pay your salary." A friend of mine in Chicago had the correct response to that. "Here's your dime back, now leave me alone."