I Worked All By Myself on Friday, and Yet I Still Managed to Survive…
If you’ve been following me for a while, then you’re probably tired of me bringing this up. However, if you’re new here, then hello! My name is Emily, and I’m a reference clerk at my local library. I started on the first of June, and just recently, I had to work at the reference desk all by myself.
It all started on June 23. I usually work with two other people at the reference desk — one guy and one lady who works part-time. However, the lady was on vacation, and the guy didn’t work that Friday, so guess who was on her own for most of the entire day?
For the most part, it was much like every other typical day — some parts were slow, while others were a little busy. Then, at around 11:00 in the morning, a lady came in wanting some prints for her check stubs. Seems like a pretty easy thing to do, right?
Well, it was… when I printed the first three. After that, the check stubs wouldn’t print anymore. At first, I thought it was because they weren’t saved on her phone properly. It’s a pretty common occurrence, especially with iPhone users (learned this on the first week). But even after saving those files (what I thought would be) correctly, they still wouldn’t print.
So, I had to get somebody from the circulation desk to help me out, but she couldn’t get this lady’s check stubs to print either. So, we had to get our branch manager to help out, and guess what? The check stubs still didn’t print!
At this point, the lady started getting impatient and a bit rude. It turned out she needed those check stubs immediately because her son’s disability was being reevaluated. While I don’t think that’s much of an excuse to be rude to somebody, I can see why this situation would be frustrating to her.
When we thought the prints weren’t clearly going to print, we refunded her money. However, the lady still needed her check stubs today. So, the branch manager got an idea: email the stubs to the library’s email. We don’t normally let patrons do that, but this was clearly an emergency situation. Thankfully, the check stubs printed! All was well, and I could finally go to lunch after two hours of stress, frustration, and confusion!
I was a bit shaken up when the lady left, but my branch manager explained that she wasn’t being rude to me on a personal level. It was that the lady was frustrated by an already stressful situation. Again, I can see why the lady was frustrated, and I can’t entirely blame her. Thank God my lunch hour was one hour long, so that was enough time for me to recover.
The rest of my day wasn’t as stressful as those two hours (luckily), though that didn’t mean I didn’t face any problems. For example, at around 3:30, the phone rang. Normally, someone at the circulation desk would answer the phone when it’s ringing. However, there was no one at the circulation desk. So, I had to answer it. It turned out to be a guy asking for directions to the library.
I’ll let you in on a little secret — I suck at giving directions (map-wise). So, I had a bit of trouble giving out exact directions. The most I could give him was our address and general direction (not the specific ones the man wanted). Thankfully, there was another man at the desk who was able to help me out greatly by giving out the specific directions. I thanked him heavily when I hung up and asked if he needed help with anything. It turned out the guy at the desk just wanted a study room.
So, that was my Friday working at the reference desk all by myself, and I somehow made it out alive. Part of that reason is because the library closes at 5:00 on Friday instead of 8:00 like on Monday through Thursday. But still, I have to give myself credit for not cracking or crying at the slightest — not even during the most stressful part of the day. I guess this is part of work life and growing up, isn’t it? Or maybe all that group therapy helped me out some. Whatever’s the case, I think I’m getting more adjusted to my job.
Speaking of my job, it’s time for me to go back to work. See you guys on the flip side!
