Tag: work

Crankypantsing, Photography

Happy National Library Workers’ Day

Shelly

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It’s National Library Workers’ Day, and as a token of appreciation, the dean’s office handed out sport bottles with the li-barry logo on them. As I was not expecting anything, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. However, somehow, I am underwhelmed. Maybe I’d be more impressed if the water here didn’t taste like it was filtered through an old gym shoe? It’s absolutely undrinkable, unless you add Emergen-C to it, to freshen it up.

I am also T-I-R-E-D. Mr. Upstairs woke me up at the ass crack of dawn yesterday, with his television blasting away. It was my one morning to sleep in, of course. I got up and got ready to take Harriet out. As I was sitting on the couch, putting on my shoes, I heard the upstairs sliding door open. When Harriet and I went outside, there was a big splat of liquid on my patio. The jackass had dumped something over the edge of his balcony again.

Grrr. It looks like I’ll need to call again to complain. And while I’m at it, I’m tempted to bitch about the hummense Cadillac that is always parked in the fire lane. I counted no fewer than 16 empty spots this morning, when I was out with the dog, so it’s not like the car’s owner is parking illegally because there are no available spots. He just likes to park in the fire lane. The problem is that A) that’s dangerous and B) everyone who parks perpendicular to the fire lane has trouble backing out. I had to do a three point turn just to back out this morning, and even then, I very nearly clipped his tail end. Fuckwit! And, parking there creates a bottleneck, so that two cars cannot pass each other.

I mentioned that I’m tired? There’s not enough caffeine in the world to keep me awake today, so I have a feeling that I’ll be doing sleep dips soon. Hrmf!

(Photo: Electric Pole 1 April 2007)

Crankypantsing, Photography

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign

Shelly

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At last count, there were sixteen signs in our tiny kitchenette. This is just a sample of the madness. Not shown are the two signs near the sink, telling folks to wash out their recyclables. Nor the twelfty signs instructing people not to brew more than two pots of coffee at the same time. Thankfully, the sign on the front of the microwave, telling us that some kinds of pigs are cute, but the kind that doesn’t clean up the microwave after using it isn’t one of them, has disappeared.

I sometimes get irritated by all the ridiculous signs–what are we, kindergarteners?–but I’m afraid that they are actually necessary. Unfortunately, the folks who need the signs are the ones who do not read them.

For example, we have an on-going problem with tripped circuits. If you turn on too many appliances at once, we lose power in the kitchen and will have to wait for maintenance folks to find time to reset the breaker for us. One of the offenders is the folks who insist on using the frigging tea kettle while the microwave is running. But it never fails that when I’m using the microwave, someone comes in and turns on the tea kettle. Instead of reaching over and turning the tea kettle off, I call them names (on the inside!) and turn off the microwave until they are finished. You’d think they’d get a clue at the precise moment that I turn off the microwave. You’d be wrong.

But wait! It gets better! The microwave is plugged into a power strip. This is to keep it from getting zapped in a power surge, only it’s a cheap-assed power strip, and they are not effective. Not to mention that it’s unsafe to put an appliance that pulls that sort of power on a flimsy power strip.

Crankypantsing, Photography

Sinks! In! Bags!

Shelly

(Not entirely unlike pigs in blankets)

On and off, for about a year now, the end sink in the 3rd floor, west tower restroom has worn a trash bag. Occasionally, the bag is removed for a day or even a week or two, then, inevitably, a new bag is secured in its place.

About a week ago, I noticed that the bag on the end sink was floating on a pool of water. The sink was leaking, and the drain was clogged. I pulled the bag away, so the maintenance folks would notice that there was an issue, and the department secretary called in the problem. Later that day, on a subsequent trip to the restroom, I noticed that the bag had been resecured over the still-full sink. It seems as if the plumbing folks believe in magical cures.

This week, the next two sinks in the line are sporting brand new trash bags of their own. I haven’t a clue what–if anything–is wrong with them. The only functioning sink is the one at the far end, and by functioning, I mean there is scalding hot water a-plenty, but the cold water does not work..

I’m starting to wonder if it’s not some sort of wacky art installation. Considering that the art building is just across the parking lot, it’s entirely possible. Or, maybe the building maintenance crew are fucking with our heads.

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And, as a bonus, here’s a shot of the wall to the left of the sinks. The tiles began bowing out about six months ago, and finally implodiated sometime last winter. I’m waiting for the tampon machine to fly off the wall and attack someone.

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Also, is that not one of the ugliest bathrooms EVAR? And I actually like teal.

Crankypantsing, Photography

Feel the Powah!

Shelly

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I don’t know about y’all, but the last thing I want while in the bathroom is to “Feel the Power.” Just sayin’… Not to mention that this thing sounds like a DC-10 clearing for takeoff. I don’t know how the folks who have offices across from the bathrooms can stand to listen to that thing. (Please click through to the full-sized image to get the full effect.)

In other crankypantsing news, there’s nothing quite like finding out one of your coworkers has a confirmed case of pertussis, and that if it’s the person you suspect it is (the higher ups obviously can’t tell us who is sick), she sits two desks away from you in Ye Olde Cubbe Farme. And sh\’s been sick on and off with respiratory problems for months. And you’ve obviously been well and truly exposed to It.

We are not amused.

Of course, there are only two places in town that have the vaccine. One of which–the county health department–only stocks the preserved version and the other of which–the university health center–we are not allowed to patronize. It looks like the preserved version will be $50 and the preservative free version, when they get it in stock (which will take about a week) will be twice that.

Now, it seems to me that, this being one of those required-to-report type diseases, and it being that the exposure occurred at work, the university would want to cover the cost of vaccinating those who want the vaccine. That’s what they did when there was a measles outbreak on campus a few years ago. So far as any of us know, though, there are no such plans. I find that odd. These are the same folks who push the influenza vax on us. Seriously. Every fall, we get multiple e-mails urging us to get vaccinated, and vax are given out in the library lobby, for crying outloud.

(Tomorrow, I shall attempt to get pix of the crazy signs in the staff kitchen, as well as the infamous sink-in-a-bag.)

Crankypantsing

Damn You, Windows!

Shelly

Today started off much better than yesterday. When I got to work, the escalators were turned on. Yay. No hauling my ass up gigantor steps. It quickly went down-hill, though. Last night, a Windows patch was installed. This morning, half my keyboard did not work. I had to reboot several times before the problem resolved. And then I realized that the Windows update b0rkened OCLC. Since I, and most of my coworkers, cannot do any actual work without OCLC, this is sort of a biggie. Fucking bastards!

Crankypantsing

I’ve Got My Cranky Pants On, Bay-BEE!

Shelly

The people around me are getting on my last nerve. It’s not their fault, I’m just grumpy as hell. However, if Mr. Belt and Suspenders doesn’t shut the fuck up, I may cry. Seriously. When he got here this morning, he announced to his cube neighbor that he’d slipped twice on the ice this morning, his knee was swelling, and he was going home after it warmed up enough for the ice to melt. He’s retold the story a total of six times–and counting. It’s like he’s on an endless loop or something. Someone please make it stop!

And maintenance folks changed the locks on the escalators, so now our keys won’t work in them. I doubt we’ll get replacements, because we weren’t technically supposed to have keys, anyway. I don’t mind stairs, but climbing giant escalator stairs at 6am is not my idea of how to start off one’s day.

I woke up with a sore throat this morning. Usually, when that happens, it goes away after awhile. Only, this time, it’s getting worse. Fucking bastards! I used up all my time off last week, because of the goddamn fucking weather, so I can’t take time off. And, I’m supposed to be training a new student this afternoon, so I couldn’t go home even if I wanted to.

Oh, and it was foggy all night, and cold enough that everything was icy this morning. Roads included. The worst, though, was the fog ice on my car windows. That stuff is impossible to scrape.

Art, Crankypantsing, Doodles

Staff Meeting Doodle

Shelly

Staff Meeting Doodle
Doodle
gel pen on steno pad

We had another training session today for GL3.1. What is GL3.1, you ask? GL3.1 is a royal pain in my ass, that’s what GL3.1 is. It’s the latest version of our cataloging system, and the most drastic upgrade the company has made since I began working in the program in, I believe, 1999. Supposedly, the newest changes were made in an effort to make the program ADA compliant. I don’t see how that’s possible, though. Aside from adding the ability to change the background colors, none of the other new GUI tweaks are actually usable. As in, we can, in theory, change our fonts, but in actuality, doing so will screw up diacritics. And, when in the previous version something could be accomplished with one click, it now takes about 20. I’m not exaggerating, either. One of my coworkers kept track today, and to import a record from OCLC and finish cataloging it, she had to make 70+ clicks. That’s ridiculous! But hey, we get pretty colors to compensate, right?

So today was our, supposedly, final training session. Of course, we’ve only been cataloging in the new system for the past month. Better late than never, I guess. Even with doodling to keep me focused, I started to glaze over about an hour into it.

Crankypantsing, Doodles, Music

The news of the day

Shelly

Staff Meeting Doodle
Staff Meeting Doodle

We had another meeting-slash-training-session today. This one was, thankfully, only an hour long, but that’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back. Damn! So, I did a little more doodling at the bottom of the previous doodle’s page, which explains the swirlies along the top border.

This may be as close to arting as I get today. I just don’t think I’m in the mood to mess with it. We found out this morning that one of our coworkers was in a coma, and was not going to come out of it. She died at 1:00 this afternoon. I didn’t know her well, but it’s still kind of weird and sobering to think that someone I saw on Friday is gone today. Poof! Just like that.

And that, such as it is, is the news of the day.

A man in my shoes runs a light and
All the papers lied tonight
But falling over you
Is the news of the day
Angels fall like rain
And love (love, love)
Is all of heaven away

(I always did love that Psychedelic Furs song, so it seems sort of fitting that it’s stuck in my head tonight.)