Children’s Literature and Work Placement
Every Monday night I think that it won’t be as bad as I think it will be, and every Tuesday morning I am found incorrect.
I mean, can we even talk about this any more? This topic has been done to death, but I hate feeling like I’m wasting my time and money. I actually don’t even want to talk about it anymore.
So, howabout them work placements?
Mine was at the University of Winnipeg, which worked out just fabulously for me. While I was there I actually spent some time in the reference section, making first hand notes on gazetteers for my part in this group presentation (which is tomorrow!). Haha Bopp and Smith! In your face!
Though, I did have to look in a lot of gazetteers, and I’m still not 100% sure what that Hungarian genealogical gazetteer was all about.
Anyway, that place was totally sweet. They gave me a lock and ‘high-security dollar store lock’ on the first day, and after a tour basically dumped me in circulation. I learned that I like circulation. My first impression was that most people who worked there were a bunch of fuddy duddies, slightly standoffish, you know. But I decided that it was my godgiven duty to bring some cheer to that desk!
I’m pretty sure I scared 90% of the students I said good morning too. You could see their thoughts on their faces: “What… why is…? Huh!? Why are you talking to me?”
I also hit on so many boys. I had a ton of fun doing that. But seriously, circulation was awesome. They gave me a brief look at the system and the next person that came up was my ‘guinea pig’. This was great, because I learn by doing and making mistakes. Usually there was someone with me to correct me, so it was totally cool. I work well in high pressure situations too, so I picked it up pretty fast. Sink or swim, and I totally swam. 
I think I mostly liked circulation for the fact that I’m a waitress. Totally customer service oriented, and I got to see all the crazies come through.
I also learned that no one really checks the clock there, which I must confess, I took advantage of later in the weeks. At first I was very prompt about coming back from lunch (Having the new man, one of my best friends, and several acquaintances/friends go to school there, I kept a pretty full lunch date schedule), but then someone made the mistake of telling me that coffee breaks actually lasted 30 minutes, if you went with your supervisor. 
They also accommodated Tae Kwon Do superbly: I would start at 8 on tuesdays and thursdays. Since the place I was scheduled to be in generally didn’t have a supervisor until 9, I just hung out at the circ desk and helped out where I could.
Ah well… that’s enough of Day 1. I’ll be back with more about…. dun dun DUN CATALOGING!
