Entries tagged with "work"
Oh waaah waaah, my life is so hard.
posted by srah on July 18, 2007 9:29 PM
One of the nice things about being a grown-up is that I have a lot more free time for fun-reading in the evenings than I did when I was a student and had to do school-reading all the time or feel guilty about the school-reading I wasn't doing. One of the bad things about being a grown-up is that I only ever seem to want to sit down and read a book when it's time to leave for work. Alas, I have to go to work instead of reading, so it is taking me forever to finish the multiple books...
Spring Break 2007: Girls Gone Sweatpants
posted by srah on March 9, 2007 4:40 PM
Tags: spring break, work
People need to stop wishing me a Happy Spring Break, because I don't get a Spring Break. I just get a Break From Students for a week, and that is not as exciting as it seems. Campus and work are quite boring with no students around, 'though it is easier to park, and I bet I could get away with wearing sweatpants all week. They should wish me a Happy Sweatpants instead....
Projets de voyage (et de travail)
posted by srah on July 24, 2006 3:24 PM
Tags: in french, language, language week, memes, travel, work
En mars je suis allée en Israël pour visiter les universités là-bas qui acceuillent les étudiants étrangers. En mai c'était Montréal, où je suis allée assister à une conférence sur l'éducation internationale. Ce mois je vais voyager à travers le ouest des États-Unis, vers Seattle. J'irai en Angleterre et en Irlande en Octobre pour une autre visite aux centres d'études étrangers. On a parlé un peu d'un voyage en Inde en décembre pour assister au mariage de Sylvie (mais avec mes finances ça ne va peut-être pas être possible... on verra...). Il va peut-être y avoir une autre visite au...
Srah's week in The Office
posted by srah on June 27, 2006 8:00 PM
Tags: the office, tv, work
I am giving presentations every afternoon this week. Once that microphone is clipped onto my sweater, I turn into a character in a television documentary. Once I get up in front of people I have an urge to shout GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM!, or possibly quote Benito Mussolini and bang on a podium for a while. Coincidentally, I also have a candy dish on my desk in order to lure young persons in my direction. All I need is a beet farm and a poster of freaky saxophone-babies and I will be complete!...
Blazering a path to adulthood
posted by srah on March 21, 2006 6:02 PM
Tags: work
Dear Student, No, I am not the student you were sent to the resource library to talk to. I am wearing a blazer. Therefore I am an adult. ADULT ADULT ADULT! You can tell by the fact that I am throwing a tantrum online. I am a grown-up!...
Eye spy with my little eye a place beginning with eye
posted by srah on February 28, 2006 6:05 PM
Or rather... I will in a week. Well, technically, a week from tomorrow at some obscene hour of the morning. But where am I going? Will it be potatoes and Mormons¹, or corn and wrestlers, or car racing and basketball, or whatever Illinois is famous for? Will it be all leprechauns and shamrocks? Geysers and Björk? Religious fundamentalism and... um, reading Lolita? Roadside bombings and potential civil war? Curry and outsourced call centers? Marinara sauce and gondolas? Gamelans and... whatever else they have in Indonesia? Such mystery! Just you wait and see! ––––– ¹ No. Sorry!...
¡BEATRICE!
posted by srah on February 8, 2006 5:44 PM
Tags: arrested development, work
There have been a couple of times at work this week when I've had to repress the desire to throw my arms in the air and exclaim ¡STUDY ABROAD! in the manner of ¡STEVE HOLT!. (I think it's really necessary to preface these exclamations with the little Spanish upside-down ! to get across the ¡STEVE HOLT!ishness of the situation. Yes?...
Touch the puppet head!
posted by srah on December 20, 2005 2:58 PM
Tags: music, they might be giants, work
Why doesn't They Might Be Giants' online store sell mousepads saying "Memo to myself: Do the dumb things I gotta do"? Or notepads or any products with that line, for that matter? I am stuffing envelopes today. It has to be done, and it's a nice break from all the other things I gotta do. Note to TMBG fans: There are new Venue Songs videos on the website and a free podcast available on iTunes. That makes it a very good year for dodecahedrons in a state of wanton uncertainty....
Good day sunshine
posted by srah on December 9, 2005 12:21 PM
Last Friday, one of my coworkers slept through her alarm, another's husband forgot to set their alarm at all, and I woke up when my alarm went off, then fell back asleep. It was as though our office was cursed! The weird thing was that all three of us made it to work on time anyway, which led us to wonder why the heck we were getting up so early in the first place. We decided that it was probably because rather than blearily fumbling around in the morning, the extra sleep and panic made us more efficient in our...
Realigning the traffic flow
posted by srah on December 8, 2005 12:06 PM
Tags: construction, the university i work at, work
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!* This is the sound of the first step being taken to Srah Having An Office Of Her Very Own That Is Not Connected To The Kitchenette/Work Area In Such A Way That People Have To Walk Through Srah's Office To Make Tea or Send Faxes. Hurrah! But not so much for the Getting Work Done. There is talk that I may be relocated (maybe even to Working From Home!) during the construction. *BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!*...
Worker bee buzz buzz
posted by srah on October 26, 2005 5:45 PM
Tags: work
I advised two people today! I may not be familiar enough yet with this school's system and policies to advise study abroad students, but if you want information on teaching or otherwise working abroad, I'm your man and/or woman!...
A well-beveragèd employee is a happy employee
posted by srah on February 8, 2005 9:34 AM
Tags: boss, milk, tea, the office (uk), work
Last night in my Stephen M. Ross Business School of Business and Hey This Guy Ross Gave Us A Crapload Of Money class, we were talking about employee satisfaction, morale and rewards. Some of the things in our reading were just embarassingly stupid, like suggesting that you should go to clown college because people like managers with a sense of humour (CLOWNS ARE NOT FUNNY) or give out buttons that say "Caught caring!" when an employee does something thoughtful. I wanted to throw up because it seems so forced - like David Brent trying too hard to be the cool,...
I like interacting with humans...
posted by srah on January 28, 2005 4:53 PM
Tags: work
Dear Person Who Has Been Sitting In My Office All Day, This is not to say that I have my own office, but that I work in an office and when I am working in it, I consider it mine. I am possessive like that. Anyway, if you ask me if there's a phone around that you can use for a very important and urgent phone call and I let you use our office phone because I'm nice like that and because we have an unwritten policy of letting people use our stuff and because I still really don't understand...
I give your life directions/ I make everything so clear
posted by srah on December 3, 2004 9:56 AM
Tags: work
One of my most frequent duties here at work is to direct people to the Office of International Programs. It makes perfect sense that people would be confused between all of the "international" offices on campus. There's our office, which deals with non-UM-affiliated study abroad programs; the OIP, which handles all of UM's own study abroad programs; the International Center, which deals with the needs of international students coming into UM; and the International Institute, which is an academic unit comprised of the Area Studies departments. Anyway, I think at least half of my interactions with visitors to the office...
Compendium epistolaritus
posted by srah on November 17, 2004 6:25 PM
Tags: barbie, christmas, holidays, jude deveraux, music, open letters, u2, wnic, work
Dear WNIC, All this fake-ass pre-Thanksgiving Christmasery is driving me nuts. It is harder and harder for me to resist decorating the blog for the holidays. Your somewhat loyal fan, srah Dear Stupid Band On The Radio Who Used The Phrase "supersize our tragedy," Oh my god, you suck. What the hell was that? srah Dear Saleswoman at Ann Taylor, I'm sorry I argued with you. You said the coat I was returning had been paid for with a check and I argued that it had been bought with a credit card and went on and on with my...
Saving it for later?
posted by srah on October 11, 2004 9:48 AM
Tags: work
The refrigerator here at work is kind of strange. There are about 17 different kinds of cream cheese there and someone has a large collection of yogurts. Besides that, it's mostly all tiny, healthy little meal parts. I rolled my eyes at my dieting co-workers and reached for the milk... and saw a can of Bud Light at the back of the fridge. I love the idea that someone is going to crack open a cold one in the middle of the work day!...
Study abroad on Mars? Sure, why not!
posted by srah on September 8, 2004 11:58 AM
Tags: work
My job today is to inform people that, no, I can't help them, but I can point them in the direction of someone who can. It's not very satisfying. Maybe I should just start making answers up....
Monkey in a human suit in a Suit of Power?
posted by srah on June 3, 2004 1:15 PM
Tags: work
I had a Real Live Grown-Up Meeting this morning. It was set up during the day yesterday, while I was at my other job, so it's lucky that I happened to check my internship email and find out about it. I ended up having to go alone to the web design firm that did one of our websites years ago, to show them the report I'd done on the usability and information architecture* of one of our websites, which I wanted them to update and modify. I left 25 minutes before the meeting, although the directions my supervisor gave me...
I'm a-ight
posted by srah on May 18, 2004 10:20 PM
Tags: internship, the abbey, work
My job at my internship is remarkably ill-defined. I am a "web development intern," but the boundaries of that job are pretty much up to my own interpretation. Lately I've been trying to define my job and set limits as to what I can and can't do and what I can and can't learn over the course of the summer. It's hard for me when someone wants me to do something that I can't do, because one of my strongest drives is the need to please. I don't want to disappoint anyone by telling them that I can't do something....
Make of my head one head
posted by srah on May 17, 2004 2:28 PM
Tags: work
"I'm just a girl who cain't say 'no' I'm in a terrible fix! I always say 'Come on, let's go' just when I aughta say 'Nix.'" - Oklahoma "As long as he needs me... I know where I must be." - Oliver! And therefore... I will be at work 8-8:30 am tomorrow, before driving to the job I'm really supposed to be at tomorrow. I grew up on musicals... and I suspect I've grown into one. Half of me appreciates being needed, and the other half pleads with the first half to get a spine....
Short post from work...
posted by srah on May 13, 2004 2:56 PM
Tags: work
I'm funna gonna make myself another cup of hot chocolate and start fashioning myself a coat from old website printouts. I hate air-conditioning!...
I'd like to thank the other nominees, because I think that in a way, we all won
posted by srah on April 26, 2004 6:47 PM
Tags: awards, overseas opportunities office, work
You know how it looks good on your resumé if you've won awards? Well... are they going to, like, check on that? Because I won Webmaster of the Year at work today. From a vast pool of one (1) webmaster....
Resolved: That working is (and oughta be) a whole lot better than studying
posted by srah on February 26, 2004 10:10 AM
Tags: job search, school of information, work
When you are a student, you have to do research and write reports during the weekends and your free time and at night, after your classes and the jobs you have to work to survive and to pay for your tuition. When you are in the Real World*, you have to do research and write reports during the day and that's all you have to do. And you get paid for it. I suppose I am in school for a reason, and that's so that I can do my research and write my reports and eventually get paid more for...
srah's shocking realizations of the week
posted by srah on February 25, 2004 5:02 PM
Tags: alternative spring break, alternative spring break 2004, school of information, technology, work
1) I like group work. Maybe I'm just saying that because I get a week away from my 622 group and I have not yet gone through next week's heinous pain that is Project Managing the Survey Report. But working with my supervisor and his assistant, I realize that I actually have some skills to contribute and can come up with some good ideas. It's not so much that I'm great at HCI compared to other HCI students, but I am more aware of HCI issues than are non-HCI people. Having this work experience makes me feel like I might...
Information professionalism at work? Or what?
posted by srah on February 23, 2004 5:06 PM
Tags: work
I was actually useful today! My supervisor, his assistant and another person here at my internship were having a discussion about certain documents on the website and they called me in. Filenames for most of their documents start with the date they were created. They wanted to significantly change the most popular page on the site and were arguing over whether they should create a new file with today's date and put in a redirection page, so that people would know that the page had been modified, or whether they should just write over the existing file. They turned to...
She's mighty, my tea
posted by srah on January 19, 2004 12:15 PM
Tags: international education, work
Dear People At Work, Please stop stealing my tea. It wouldn't bother me so much if there were one or two of you taking it in order to drink it on your own, but you tend to take the box, which is clearly marked with my initials and set it out whenever there's a presentation, offering it to millions of strangers. Oh, and while we're at it, Dear People Who Come to My Workplace, Please stop being so rigid and unmovable. You are never going to find an internship if you reject all of my suggestions for no apparent reason...
On-the-job hazards
posted by srah on January 5, 2004 4:31 PM
Tags: work
Bilingual children make me feel stupid! And yet I love them so! With jealous hatred burning in my heart! But a loving kind of hatred! Bilingual children confuse me....
I totally kick ass
posted by srah on November 24, 2003 4:59 PM
Tags: work
I am in the Washington Post! Well, okay, not me specifically, but the website that I update is mentioned. I was excited. Shut up....
Thursday the Thirteenth
posted by srah on November 13, 2003 1:45 PM
Tags: work
Let's examine the evidence. Today is November 13. Normally, I would work today, it being a Thursday and all. I received an email this morning that stated, in passing, that the International Center would be closed November 13 for a staff retreat. Somehow I managed not to assemble all of this information to mean that I didn't need to go to work today... until I got there and the door was locked. Drat. I could've walked back to West Hall with two tall people blocking the wind for me but ended up having to forge the way all by my...
Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?
posted by srah on November 8, 2003 12:23 PM
Tags: international education, work
One of the questions I get all the time at work is, Is it competitive? When people are looking for study abroad programs or looking into programs like the State Department internship, they tend to ask this question, which never fails to surprise me. It never occurs to me to ask if something is competitive. Why do they want to know? Will they refrain from applying if they don't think they can get in, or do they just want to know what they're up against? Why do they need to know that? I just apply to things and figure I'll...
I am the webmaster. Are you the gatekeeper?
posted by srah on November 8, 2003 10:01 AM
Tags: work
I went on to an interview yesterday for an organization that finds internships in Belgium. I'm not very confident in their ability to find me an appropriate internship that will fulfill SI's requirements for a Directed Field Experience, because I'm not sure the director understood what I wanted out of the program. Lots of their "internships" are actually just summer work experience abroad - teaching English, working as a camp counselor, working retail, etc. I don't know if he fully appreciated that I needed something structured in my academic field and that I couldn't really afford to be flexible. It's...
Venting @ work
posted by srah on November 3, 2003 3:34 PM
Tags: international education, work
This job would be a lot easier if everyone who came in would just shut up and let me tell them what to do. Get off your ass and walk down to the OIP yourself! Why do I have to bring you a flyer? That's not my job and you have to get your lazy self there eventually. You have limited options for getting to Cuba! Get over it. Go somewhere else or don't be so picky. Part of studying abroad is learning to adjust, so adjust already. If you study abroad with this rigid mindset, you're going to have...
Facts of the matter
posted by srah on October 27, 2003 3:28 PM
I work in the Overseas Opportunities Office. I am the peer advisor responsible for teaching abroad information. One of the largest teaching abroad opportunities is the Japanese Exchange & Teaching program, a teaching assistantship sponsored by the Japanese government. The Japanese Exchange & Teaching program is abbreviated "JET". Every time I hear the word "JET", I think "I thought the major was a lady suffragette." Seriously. Every time. Make it stop....
Life and a bowl of cherries
posted by srah on October 20, 2003 9:45 AM
Someone brought a bowl of chocolate-covered dried cherries to work today and left them in the kitchen for the staff. I tried one and despite being covered in dark chocolate, it was quite tasty*. So I had another. All in all, I had at least five in the time it took me to make a cup of tea. So I have self-imposed a ban on kitchen visits for the remainder of the post-season play day. Yeah, like that'll work. In other work-kitchen-related news, who is stealing my tea? And why are they nicking the Earl Grey with my initials on...
Olé!
posted by srah on September 18, 2003 12:11 PM
Tags: assistantship, overseas opportunities office, work
The Librarian Hat and Webmaster Beanie are thrown to the wind*. My head, today, is clad in the Peer Advisor Sombrero. I've been enlisted to participate in a Work Abroad information session, representing the France assistantship. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? All of this must be summarized in a presentation of less than five minutes. As you may know, when the subject of the assistantship comes up, I am either completely reticent or completely unshutuppable. I have also been asked to write articles about my experience for the Office. How many do you need? Because I could write about...
New Mac city
posted by srah on September 15, 2003 6:15 PM
Tags: technology, work
Further frustrations: Where's the Delete key? Where's the End key? WHERE IS MY RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON? So... Macs are superfun. I can drink tea with milk at work and I did manage to be slightly productive today, so all in all, I'm pretty content here at the new place of employment. I made progress and learned how to do some things Mac-wise, even though I kept clicking the imaginary right mouse button and de-selecting my text. I am a piratical maid-of-all-work, but hopefully later this week I will be removing the Webmaster Beanie* for a while, putting on my Librarian...
'I'm typing Bs!'
posted by srah on September 15, 2003 10:04 AM
Tags: technology, work
My new workplace is a Mac environment and uses Dreamweaver for their websites. Between a new program and an unfamiliar operating system, I feel like a friggin' moron. The iMac is turquoise and plasticky and fake-looking. I think it might be just a pretend computer. It doesn't help that the desk comes up to my armpits and I can't seem to adjust the chair any higher. I would feel five except that those damned five-year-olds can probably adjust to new computing platforms a hell of a lot more easily than us agèd twenty-three year olds. Where are my accent shortcuts???...
Pardon me while I spew into a Paige™ box
posted by srah on July 22, 2003 11:55 AM
Tags: bentley, construction, work
Construction continues. The building is shaking. It's not a pleasant massage-like vibration, but a sort of constant horrible shaking that gives one a feeling rather reminiscent of being car-sick. Bleaaaaaaargh....
How many times can I say 'plastic sheeting'?
posted by srah on July 15, 2003 12:45 PM
Tags: art museum, bentley, construction, work
The library is under construction, so I'm actually glad that I work at TPTIBLOT four afternoons a week and TPTIBLOT2 three mornings a week, which adds up to one morning off and one day spent here. Mysterious things keep happening to the library; mysterious because no one tells me about them. Today when I came back from TPTIBLOT2 at lunchtime, the entrance to the back hallway was covered in plastic sheeting. Someone had managed to make an archivist-sized hole in the plastic sheeting, which to my way of thinking defeated the purpose of having plastic sheeting up. So to get...
Nerd-mob
posted by srah on July 11, 2003 9:21 AM
Tags: bentley, fire alarm, work
How often do you get to have fire drills anymore? Concrete dust from our construction project set off our über-sensitive fire alarms today, so all of the archivists had to file outside and huddle in front of the building. We imagined that from the street, we looked like an angry nerd-mob, storming the library. "We want to research! We want to research!" we cried, waving our torches. Come to think of it, maybe those torches had something to do with the fire alarm....
You have hibernation sickness. Your eyesight will return to you in time
posted by srah on July 2, 2003 2:27 PM
Tags: work
I think the cold air here at TPTIBLOT makes my body processes slow down and that's what makes me tired here. Or maybe my eyeballs are freezing and my brain wants to cover them up with my eyelids to protect them. Either way, I - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
On extended weekends (Lament of the hourly temp)
posted by srah on July 1, 2003 3:15 PM
You are paid the same If you work Friday or not? Not so for Sarah. Thirty-five hours Must be worked, even when the Week has thirty-two....
Yeah, sure, great to meet you too
posted by srah on June 24, 2003 2:02 PM
Tags: work
I've decided to refer to the place on central campus that I'm being loaned out to as The Place That I'm Being Loaned Out To. Because I am a creative genius like that. I think the brief exposure to sunlight between My Workplace and TPTIBLOT exhausts me, because I want to fall asleep as soon as I arrive. I keep being introduced to people who are overly happy to see me. I'm hot, I'm tired, I have a headache, and I can't understand why they're so excited to meet me, so I'm afraid I'm giving out rude vibes. Sure, it's...
Take my job... please!
posted by srah on June 23, 2003 3:24 PM
Tags: work
I say that I want to continue in school so that I will have lots of skills and therefore the freedom to drastically change careers whenever I want. And yet, I've suddenly realized, once I get a job, I don't think I will even leave it. Maybe I subconsciously realized this and that's why I haven't seriously looked for a Real Job yet - I'm afraid of picking the thing that I'll do for The Rest Of My Life. I am too nice or too weak to ever let my employer down by leaving, or too lazy to ever look...
Lost in translation
posted by srah on June 19, 2003 9:23 AM
Okay, so one of the main reasons I took this job again this summer was that I would actually get to use some of my skills by doing some English-French translating. And now I've got a document to translate. And now I'm scared. I never realized it, and it may not seem like it, but translating is stressful work. You're putting words in someone else's mouth. You may make them say something they didn't mean, or you may make them sound like a five-year-old, or you may make them completely incomprehensible. I fear that I am being trusted where I...
Hans and Frans have strong suits?
posted by srah on June 18, 2003 4:31 PM
Tags: work
I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home. After my visit to SI, I took the bus back to work. I'd thought I'd be gone longer, so I took the afternoon off, then found myself back at work with three hours to go. I didn't want to work when I'd already decided to myself that I had the afternoon off, so I just sat at my mom's computer and played with my archives. Unfortunately playing with my blog archives doesn't count as archives work. If I'd done actual work, I could have taken...
Sam, me, samosas
posted by srah on June 17, 2003 4:57 PM
Tags: work
Why do I keep telling people I'm going to be sitting on the phones tomorrow? I'm not going to be sitting on the phones. I'm going to be sitting on a chair at the receptionist's desk, filling in for her. I am not going to be sitting on any phones, because it would be uncomfortable and harder to answer. In other work-related news, Best. Tea. Ever. To explain yet again, the staff here at Srah's Workplace spends their Tuesday and Friday afternoon breaks together in what we like to call "Tea". There is a Tea List, on which our names...
And various other assorted dwarves
posted by srah on June 12, 2003 3:53 PM
Tags: work
It's one of those days where I feel a general sense of discontentment and feel like saying things "make me want to throw up" when they don't really do so. I also feel like my t-shirt is trying to strangle me. I am unmotivated. I am grumpy. Is it bedtime yet?...
Shake it up baby now
posted by srah on June 11, 2003 10:02 AM
Tags: work
If the maintenance man doesn't stop trying to fix the door lock by twisting it and smacking it, I'm going to go insane. If he weren't so much bigger than me and it weren't his job to fix the lock, I would twist and smack him. There has to be a better way....
Clap if you believe in Archives Fairies
posted by srah on June 10, 2003 9:38 AM
Tags: school of information, work
Sometimes I feel like there is a war going on over my soul. Sometimes I feel like the Archives Fairies and the Human-Computer-Interaction Fairies are fighting over me. I really want to support my side and all, but the Archives Fairies seem so strong. Maybe they cheat. Or maybe it's the economy. If the HCI fairies would throw a job in my direction, I would certainly help them, but the Archives Fairies have stability and a steady income on their side. I am weak and give in to their evil. Forgive me and help me, HCI Fairies, before the Archives...
srah@work
posted by srah on May 27, 2003 3:04 PM
This day has been going by disturbingly quickly. I just found myself wondering if it was getting near lunchtime... then realizing that I ate lunch three hours ago....
I'm watching you...
posted by srah on May 27, 2003 11:38 AM
I am a paranoid freakazoid, I know, but every summer I suffer from the impression that everyone in the Sorting Room hates me and talks about me behind my back. Fortunately for me and my being-snuck-up-on complex, they can't do that anymore - literally, anyway. I'm at a different computer this year, so I don't have my back to the room. Now they have to talk about me in front of my back. Which they probably don't do anyway. I have problems....
Little girl lost
posted by srah on May 20, 2003 5:51 PM
People kept having to re-explain things to me today, over and over again. I felt like I didn't understand anything. To be precise, I felt almost exactly like this: King: GUARDS!!! (two guards come in) Make sure the prince doesn't leave this room until I come and get 'im. (starts to go) Guard 1: (repeating) Not to leave the room, even if you come and get 'im. Guard 2: *Hic* King: Nono.... *Until* I come and get him. Guard 1: Until you come and get him, we're not to enter the room. King: (stops) Nono, no... You *stay* in the...
Hey short girl
posted by srah on May 20, 2003 3:46 PM
Tags: work
Who has the responsibility of introducing me to the members of the staff I don't know at Tea? Is it my ultimate boss, my project supervisor, my sub-project supervisor, or my mommy? Probably none of the above. It's probably me. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to do it, because I feel they should know and fear me already, from the tales and lore shared with them by the others. I consider them new staff and me old staff. I am a mutant: the five-year returning temporary summer employee. And this happens every summer....
De nouveau à la bibliothèque
posted by srah on May 20, 2003 11:11 AM
Tags: work
Very confused. Many projects. Little sleep over the weekend. Very little archival knowledge osmosed (is that a verb?) during the last five years I have worked here, but no one seems to realize that I was just photocopying and reorganizing the supply cabinet and don't actually know anything about archives. All will be fine once I am settled in. I hope....
Scenes from a library
posted by srah on August 21, 2002 4:57 PM
Tags: work
I've been doing a project at work where I have to go through necrology files. One amused me because an obituary ended with this sentence: "Remains cremated." I giggled to myself when I read it. He isn't going to de-cremate, now is he?...
Tales from the sorting room
posted by srah on August 16, 2002 3:06 PM
Tags: work
I'm sure I've written this exact post before, but I hate working in the sorting room. There are never enough computers to go around and when I tie one up for the whole day, typing up negative sleeve after negative sleeve, I can feel the laser-eyes of the other sorting room inhabitants burning into the back of my skull. They want me to leave. They will kill me for my computer. If I stand up, they will steal it away from me and close all of my applications. They hate me. I feel unwelcome. It's not a pleasant working environment....
Query
posted by srah on August 7, 2002 2:08 PM
Tags: work
Why does it smell moldy/mildewy in here?...
Cursèd desk
posted by srah on August 7, 2002 11:09 AM
Tags: work
Yesterday it was my turn to sit on the reference desk during tea. ARGH. It's one of my least favorite things to do, because I know even less about reference than many of our researchers. Yesterday, there was a long line of researchers that only seemed to grow and to have questions I couldn't answer. One was angry because he wanted a photocopy. Others were visiting from New York City and needed information on some exhibit that we didn't have and that I'd never heard of. Others wanted to do research on topics I didn't know anything about. Even one...
By the way...
posted by srah on July 30, 2002 12:41 PM
Tags: work
I made chocolate chip cookies, chocolate peanut butter chip cookies and Rice Krispie treats for tea today. Not very original, but that's what happens when your butt refuses to get off the couch until after Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy....
Tea dilemma
posted by srah on July 29, 2002 10:33 AM
Tags: work
My tea (my turn to bring in the treats for our bi-weekly tea at work) has been moved up to tomorrow. Any suggestions? I am the baker extraordinaire and will use any excuse to bake, as it counteracts the frigid air coming out of the air conditioner and leaves the house more comfortable....
My face is going to China
posted by srah on July 26, 2002 4:51 PM
A Chinese researcher who doesn't speak much English has just arrived at the library (yes, around 4:30 on a Friday...) and I spent about fifteen minutes helping him fill out his registration card. He came over to me for help with it, rather than to the reference desk. I think he likes me because I speak slowly to him. I wish I remembered more than tushuguan (library) from my semester of Chinese - I think he already knew where he was, so tushuguan wasn't doing me much good. I get the impression, after learning a bit about Chinese and talking...
Fun at work
posted by srah on June 4, 2002 11:23 AM
Tags: work
Window-washers on TV and in the movies are so quiet you sometimes don't even know they're there. No such luck here... The guy is talking to somebody and banging on the glass like he's trying to get my attention. I know he's not trying to get my attention because I've been hearing him do it all along the row of offices. I forgot to take a break today. It's lonely without my mom or Diane. I guess I just won't and I can tie it into my lunch break or something. Ho hum....
The Continuing Adventures of Receptionist Srah
posted by srah on June 4, 2002 10:39 AM
Tags: work
I sat in for Rachel while she went on her break and someone started trying to send a fax to our phone or something. I get either high-pitched beeps in my ear or that awful fax/modem whine. They didn't try it before her break, haven't tried it since. I am cursed....
Adventures of Receptionist Srah
posted by srah on June 3, 2002 3:40 PM
Tags: work
I just answered the phone and a very loud voice asked me about some papers. I transferred it waaaaay across the room to the Reference Desk and I can still hear him and can almost make out words. Yikes....
Where is that again?
posted by srah on May 31, 2002 8:36 AM
Tags: work
I'm doing data-entry at work these days, putting the descriptions on photo negative envelopes into a database. The latest one, from 1958, mentions U-M's Geography Department. Do schools still have geography departments? Could you major in Geography? What kind of job opportunities were open to Geography majors? Mapmaking? When was the last time you studied geography in school? The last time I remember was sixth grade, over ten years ago....
The maid-of-all-work filling in at the receptionist's desk
posted by srah on May 13, 2002 3:58 PM
Tags: work
I just used the phrase "the line is engaged". What century am I from, again?...
OH MY GOD, that dessert
posted by srah on December 21, 2001 4:04 PM
OH MY GOD, that dessert was lovely. Hhhhhhhhhhhhh... It had quite a layer of Kahlua in it, though. I think little Srah-can't-hold-her-liquor has gotten a little goofy from the stuff that the brownies were soaked in. Shall I ansher the phone like thish? Maybe I'm just naturally goofy. It's so hard to tell with me. It would be really sad and pathetic if that was enough to get me tipsy....
A caller to the library
posted by srah on December 21, 2001 11:14 AM
Tags: work
A caller to the library just told me I was wonderful for helping him. Warm glowy feeling. Much better than the guy who talked to me like I had the intellect of a seven year old just because I was answering the phone......
Here at the library...
posted by srah on December 21, 2001 10:19 AM
Here at the library, we have Tea every Tuesday and Friday - we all take our afternoon break together (except one rotating person to sit on the reference desk) and take turns bringing in treats. Anyway, today is Mommy's turn (I should be calling my co-worker Marilyn, shouldn't I? I usually call her "hey you" at work) for Tea and she brought something Amy suggested. You take a big bowl and cover the bottom with brownies, then pour Kahlua over it (since 26 August, the Bentley staff is of legal drinking age. Ha ha), then a layer of whipped cream,...
Twice today
posted by srah on December 21, 2001 9:36 AM
Tags: work
Twice today (see timestamp - I've been here since about 8:30) I've hit the wrong button on the phone and disconnected the person I was trying to connect to, rather than transferring a call to them. ARGH!...
SEVEN researchers and an ever-ringing phone
posted by srah on December 20, 2001 11:40 AM
SEVEN researchers and an ever-ringing phone! (La sonnerie du téléphone est sempiternel, to use my French word-of-the-day...) Why do they torment me so?...
Someone has
posted by srah on December 20, 2001 9:08 AM
Tags: work
Someone has rearranged the letters that fell off the name-plate thing on the outside of Diane's office to spell "mad and looming tales". That would make a good tagline for a blog....
I cried and cried
posted by srah on December 20, 2001 8:47 AM
Tags: lord of the rings, lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring, movies, work
I cried and cried during Fellowship of the Ring last night. This may have had something to do with my post office experiences and my lack of sleep, but anyway... It was very good and very epic. I was going to say "I especially liked..." but I especially liked everyone. A post about my study-abroad experiences will come during today's staff meeting, Krista. It seems like all they do around here anymore is have staff meetings....
I'm somnambulating through the work
posted by srah on December 19, 2001 3:16 PM
Tags: work
I'm somnambulating through the work day. I need some sleep, but it shan't be tonight, as I'm baking cookies with Robin after work, then Boyfriend and I are going to see Frodo & Pals in the evening....
Yesterday I had nothing to do...
posted by srah on December 18, 2001 7:00 AM
Tags: work
Yesterday I had nothing to do most of the morning. No one had any projects for me, so I just sat around checking my email and feeling marginally guilty because I was getting paid to do nothing. Then they came up with something for me to do: clean out the supply closet. Ack! There is letterhead in there from at least 25 years ago and there are thousands of typewriter ribbons. What a disaster area. But it sure looked a lot better this afternoon, when I had to do 377 photocopies - most of which were from books or fragile...
Ah, Monday morning.
posted by srah on December 17, 2001 11:30 AM
Tags: work
Ah, Monday morning. There's no work for me to do. No one seems to have any ideas so I've been loading and reloading my web-based email thing to see if I have new messages. I haven't. This has never happened to me before. I wish Rachel would leave so I could at least answer the phones......
One of the tea-time topics
posted by srah on December 14, 2001 3:31 PM
Tags: work
One of the tea-time topics of conversation: Does a tattoo of Snoopy constitute copyright infringement? Of course, we also talked about body piercings, fighting on airplanes, the library hockey team and researcher horror stories....
I helped a Newbery Award winning author
posted by srah on December 13, 2001 3:09 PM
Tags: work
I helped a Newbery Award winning author with a locker today. Everyone together: "Oooooh, ahhhhhh." My life is so exciting. I also had some thoughts during the course of the day, but I've forgotten them all now. Greaaaaaaat....
When I'm not running the library
posted by srah on December 13, 2001 9:11 AM
Tags: photocopying, work
When I'm not running the library, they have me photocopying. I don't like photocopying - especially because I am photocopying books, which are difficult. You may not know the finer arts of photocopying books, but believe you me - I do. After four years or however long I've been working here, you pick things up. At least they're not old books, because those can't handle the spine-pushing you have to do to photocopy down into the cracks. Is anybody there? Does anybody care? I wouldn't....
Tuesday tutorial is so stressful
posted by srah on October 30, 2001 12:00 PM
Tags: work
Tuesday tutorial is so stressful! Who would put a tutorial at lunchtime? This is NOT happening next semester. I hope they still want me next semester, or I'll have to find a real job....
