Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Lame duck librarian

Quack. Quack-quack-quack.

That’s the sound of a lame-duck librarian. That’s MY sound. Two days ago I gave notice at my “day” job because – happily – I now have too much writing work to be both a writer and a librarian. It’s a sad commentary on society that I can make more money writing resumes than I can as a librarian, but there it is.

My boss actually tried to get me a raise before he accepted my resignation. Not surprisingly, the owner (yes, owner – this is a proprietary school) said no.

So I turned in my almost-one-month notice. My last day is September 15.

If I was looking for a warm and fuzzy response from the owner, it certainly hasn’t arrived yet. Just hours after I turned in my resignation, the computer folks deleted every file from my computer. It’s a standard, though secret, protocol here – although I’m not sure what evil it was designed to prevent. Fine by me. They just erased the stuff I was working on for the Dean, that’s all.

Actually, I was tipped off in advance by someone other than the computer guy, so I knew to make my own back-up before I gave notice. But I complained anyway and they restored all my files. Ha!

Meanwhile, my boss is looking to hire back my predecessor to take my place. I’m pretty happy with that idea because people don’t like her as much as they like me (Ok, so I’m petty. So fire me.).

Of course, I’ll be working just as hard, if not harder, than I am right now. My bread-and-butter is writing resumes, which can be draining and not as much fun as, say, writing for a personal blog. I am also expecting to panic at least once a day, whenever half an hour goes by without a new order – and then flog myself because I’m an irresponsible hack writer quitting a secure job just to be an Artiste.

Still, this quote from Erma Bombeck resonates for me:
“There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, ‘Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.’ Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they're still there.”

All right, so what if I am just a hack writer pretending to be an artist? Yesterday I was a librarian pretending to be a writer. It’s a start.

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations. I agree it's a sad commentary on our society when teachers and librarians aren't treated like treasures.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are no hack anything sister! And if your resumes have the intelligence and order that your blog has - well, those must be very-hired customers you serve.

    As for the boss - he doesn't know what he's losing. He needs to look for a book in the library called, APPRECIATION or CHILL DUDE, LIFE IS SHORT or something...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8:17 PM

    I've been feeling the pull to bring out the MS and start working again. But I haven't yet. I think you have just re-inspired me. I'll keep in touch....

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think that it is definitely "once a librarian, always a librarian". Like a lawyer. I know a woman who has been out of work for 13 years and still calls herself a lawyer. So why not?

    ReplyDelete