Job opportunities

So, this last week I had the chance to let my boss know that I'm open & amped about new opportunities at the library where I currently work, and the one here closer to home. I started out, about 4-1/2 years ago, working in the small branch library just about 3 blocks from my house, at only 10 hours a week. I LOVED that job. It's a great small-town environment, with mostly-friendly people, and in a town like this, you really get to know your neighbours, working in a library the size of that one. And it was just enough hours to get me out of the house and give DD and I a break from each other.

Well, after 2-1/2 years there, DH expressed his desire for me to have a job where I was working more hours and bringing home more pay. So, I went along with it and applied for a couple of jobs in other areas that I thougth I might enjoy. I applied at a couple of craft stores, and a book store. I really didn't want to leave my library position, but I could understand the need for increased salary and hours. Of the 3 places I applied, I wanted the book-store position the most. And that's the one I got, based on my experiences at the library. Turned out that I HATED it. We could have been selling matchbooks for all the difference it made to store management. We weren't encouraged to sell based on our love of books, but on how many items we could sell. And we were pushed (and often scolded) if we didn't manage to talk the customer into purchasing other items besides the book/s they came in for. And the harassement of customers, OMG! I hated it, as we were pretty much told to follow people around like puppy dogs, asking repeatedly if they needed help finding anything. It really sucked.

Well, gas prices started rising rapidly at about the same time that I found out one of the 2 craft stores where I'd applied was moving to NP (instead of their origional store in town). I figured that maybe I could get that job. It'd be closer to home anyway. So, after 6 months of working at the book-store, that's what I did. I was closer to home. Granted I was now without my beloved books, but I also wasn't being pushed to "make the sale, make the sale" the way I was at the bookstore. And for the most part I liked it. (I say "for the most part" because there were moments of extreme boredom at that store, and the mall it's located in doesn't have air-conditioning, and we were coming into summer at that point, so I was roasting my butt off, cooped up in this craft-store about 6 hours a day. I also had a schedual that only 1 time -in the 3 months I worked there- allowed me 2 days off in a row.) I was making considerably less, per hour, than I had been at the library, and even than I was at the book store, but I was close to home again.

Well, after only 2 months at the craft store, my boss from the library called and told me that the town library had a page position opening up @ 30 hours a week. I Jumped. I immediately applied, interviewed, and cried when I told my craft-store boss that I'd gotten the job of my dreams. She was happy for me, but sad to see me go. So, now I was up to 30 hours a week, still making considerably less than I had at my first library position, but now I have benefits and more hours, and more options than I did at that first position here in NP.

I've now been at the main library for over a year and a half, and I found out a few weeks ago that the borough finally settled on a spot to build an even bigger NP Branch library than the one we've got now. And it's about the same distance away as the first. Walking time: 15 minutes, depending on the weather. I went in and talked to my OLD boss at the library last Friday and asked her when the new building will be completed, and does she know about staffing options at this point. She said that it looks like the building will take about 6 years to complete. (*BIG GASP*) And that, for this reason, she doesn't know yet what kind of staffing they'll need. I told her that I'd like her to keep me in mind, obviously as a page, if she winds up needing anybody who can fill 30 hour (or even 40 hour) page positions out here. And I told her that if there's any possibility, I'd REALLY love a chance as a library tech. I know I'm a shoe-in as a 30 or 40 hour page out here at the new building, if (when) they need somebody to put in that many hours. I'm the only one in town who's got the experience, AND the desire to be here in NP for the work. And nobody (and I DO mean nobody) lives closer to where the building is than I do.

So, I went to my CURRENT boss this past week, and expressed the same desire to her as I've expressed to my former boss at the local library branch. I told my current boss that if there are ANY training possibilities while I'm at the current job, that will increase my odds of getting a tech position at the NEW building when it's opened, I'd love to be in on them. She understood my desire to be closer to home, if that becomes available. Agreed that there's not another person in as prime a position as I am, if a 40 hour page position opens up out here. Said she doesn't know if there are training possibilites for me to better my odds for a tech position, but at least now she knows I want it. And I REALLY want it! I've often thought that I'd love to be a reference librarian, but with DD's hockey schedual and school and MY work hours, I don't know that I've got the time or energy to go to school myself for a degree in library sciences. And I don't know if my local branch library will NEED more than 1 or 2 reference librarians (which it currently has anyway), even when the branch is in a larger building. But, I'm fairly sure that they'll need more library technicians. And I'm positive that they'll need pages with longer hours than the 10 hours a week offerend now.

I only hope that there are ways for me to better my odds of obtaining a tech position here at the local branch, if/when that option opens up. I guess, at the very least, keeping my nose clean at work (though my former boss seemed to like me better than my current boss does), showing that I'm ready, willing, and able to do whatever is needed, and to learn new skills as needed. And to keep my hopes & desires known.... For now that's all I can do.

For what it's worth, too, in 6 years, when the new building is finished (if it takes that long) DD will be just starting HS. So it may open up more time for me to pursue college courses that could better my odds, as well.

Anyway, just had to put this all out there. Just had to share my excitement and my hopes. And besides, I NEVER talk about work, it seems. I'm NOT actually a SAHM, though sometimes it would seem that way, considering I only seem to talk about DD & cooking. LOL

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In other news, we woke up again this morning (I got to sleep till 10 am, WOW!) to brilliant blue skies, and 10 deg. F above 0. Lovely, lovely weather. Made breakfast (bacon & french toast) and sent DD out to play. Just.... WOW. Reminds me of the song my mom used to sing in the mornings (and always annoyed me, as I'm really not a morning person).... "Oh, what a beautiful Morning, Oh, what a beautiful day. I've got the happiest feeling, everything's going my way."

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my middle sis. Dad called as I was making breakfast and told me that Sis had gone to run some errands, and came home to find her front door open and her lap-top & Ipod gone. The cats were fine, hiding under the bed. But that lap-top (brand new, too, as her other one died just before christmas) is her life-line for school. She's got a lot of school work on there, and her favorite game ("Civilization") was in the disk-drive when it was stolen. And, when Mom called at 1 to let me know that Sis's house had been broken into, the cops still hadn't shown up (over an hour after being called) to take her report or get prints or anything else that they're supposed to do in break-in situations. *sigh* So, Sis is very bummed, and Mom said Sis was crying (understandable). I'm sure my sis would appreciate P&PT (prayers & positive thoughts) if anybody cares to send them her way. Mom said that the one big report she had on the laptop, she'd just given a first-draft copy of, to a mentor or teacher or something. So, hopefully she'll be able to revise it from that passed-along first draft, and she won't have to start over. But still.... What a bummer of a morning.

S, I wish there was something I coud do to help!!! Just ****LOVE & HUGS**** heading your way. I hope the cops finally showed up (while I've been writing this) and got their act together. And I hope that your landlady can get a good sturdy door back on the place VERY quickly and a good dead-bolt (or two) to go with it. Glad to hear Dusty & Adele are ok, and I hope your day brightens up!!!!! Love ya!!!!!

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As for everyone else....

Have a Blessed Day.