You Know You Have a Good Job When...

...You can make the executive decision that you are going to read the new James Patterson before anyone else gets to.  Ha!

Zoo by James Patterson (but really by Michael Ledwidge) is like diet Crichton.  And I'm a Crichton fan so, thus far, it's fairly entertaining.  Need a good beach read?  Pick up Zoo from your nearest library.  Who was it?  John Ruskin?  Once said, "If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying."  I used to practice that religiously.  So I can say, seriously, rent Zoo for free. 

One of these days, I'll have to tell y'all what Tuesdays are like.

Anyway, today was my Friday.  And it was actually Friday!  What a feeling.  Of course, because it was Friday, all the usual end-of-the-week weirdness took place.  (Across the the MODOC, the libraries generally get all of the weirdness on Fridays.  This is why I instigated the "You Know It's Friday When..." emails.)

1. One of my favorite employees was just released from disciplinary segregation and immediately came to the library and was all, "I'M GOING TO BE AT WORK THIS AFTERNOON!  I COULDN'T WAIT TO GET OUT OF THERE!  I STILL HAVE A JOB?!  YEAH!"  And then went woo-hoo-ing back to his house.  Yes, he was a little excited.  And for a big, loud ADD man, he was being a bit restrained.  For him.
2. This morning, my second-newest employee kept asking me questions.  Yes, he'd been told all this 2 and 3 times by various people (including myself), but ask away he did.  Almost to the detriment of my sanity.  No, if patrons have an overdue book, they may NOT check anything else out.  No, not a book.  No, not a magazine.  No, not even a newspaper (same in the system as a magazine and he knows this).  Yes, the overdue item may be a magazine, but that means you have to check the magazine back in before he can get his books.  Stop interrupting me.
3. This afternoon, Disciplinary Segregation Employee was waaaay too excited to be back at work.  And I could tell he was back.  If the decibel level of the library rises about 100 million levels, he's definitely working.  And he couldn't wait to do newspapers.  He's special, that's for sure.  Excellent customer service skills, though.
4. And my law clerk, whom I normally enjoy (he's got jokes), complained all day about how one of his cellmates has the flu.  And is in the process of infecting everybody around him.  Because, according to Law Clerk, everybody who might possibly be carrying even one bacterium or bit of virus is trying to infect him.  Let's just say that Law Clerk loves the bleach.  Comes into my office at least 3 times per shift, and he works three shifts a day, to get the bleach water to disinfect whatever he's about to touch and the doorknob.

My job is amusing.  I can say that, at least.