if a change is as good as a rest, then why am I so tired???
today I officially started my new job. I have temporarily been promoted to circulation supervisor here at the library, which is a jump of 3 pay grades (a whopping $2K per year) and a bunch of responsibility, as well as a change of geography.
I now spend all of my time in the circulation area as opposed to technical services which, for those of you who are wholly unfamiliar with libraries, means I am now "out front" as opposed to "in the back." Interestingly, I have spent nearly all my 7 years in libraries in tech services, meaning I work on preparing materials for public consumption, and rarely see them moving around. Also, I have always been less accountable to my coworkers, at least in terms of my physical presence, than I am now.
When my daughter was younger, I was nervous about being in a public service job in which my presence might be inflexibly required. I never wanted to be in a position where I might have to leave suddenly to attend to a family matter, and have nobody available to cover for me. This paragraph has inspired me to post about Epilepsy Summer, which I will do in due course, but for now I will just say that 3 years ago this feeling, about being solely responsible for the maintenance of a work environment, was completely justified. At this point, I'm feeling less nervous, mostly because I have a solid "village" in place to assist me with the care of my daughter. So, I agreed to take on the challenge of a whole new work experience, for a year anyway.
I don't doubt my ability to be a supervisor, since I am naturally, um, assertive (heh) - although my manner can be a bit brusque as that assertiveness constantly battles my also-inherent self-consciousness. Also, I am a good multi-tasker and tend to find order in chaos if it is to be found, and I can see already that this job is going to require all my formidable juggling skillz. I was feeling very tired and had a pounding headache by the end of the day, mostly from the effort of trying to seem smoothly competent and assume an air of confidence and authority while remaining affable and accessible to both patrons and coworkers. It was a struggle. But I can see glimmers of enjoyment in among the bumbling. Perhaps I will soon be able to rest, a little.
I now spend all of my time in the circulation area as opposed to technical services which, for those of you who are wholly unfamiliar with libraries, means I am now "out front" as opposed to "in the back." Interestingly, I have spent nearly all my 7 years in libraries in tech services, meaning I work on preparing materials for public consumption, and rarely see them moving around. Also, I have always been less accountable to my coworkers, at least in terms of my physical presence, than I am now.
When my daughter was younger, I was nervous about being in a public service job in which my presence might be inflexibly required. I never wanted to be in a position where I might have to leave suddenly to attend to a family matter, and have nobody available to cover for me. This paragraph has inspired me to post about Epilepsy Summer, which I will do in due course, but for now I will just say that 3 years ago this feeling, about being solely responsible for the maintenance of a work environment, was completely justified. At this point, I'm feeling less nervous, mostly because I have a solid "village" in place to assist me with the care of my daughter. So, I agreed to take on the challenge of a whole new work experience, for a year anyway.
I don't doubt my ability to be a supervisor, since I am naturally, um, assertive (heh) - although my manner can be a bit brusque as that assertiveness constantly battles my also-inherent self-consciousness. Also, I am a good multi-tasker and tend to find order in chaos if it is to be found, and I can see already that this job is going to require all my formidable juggling skillz. I was feeling very tired and had a pounding headache by the end of the day, mostly from the effort of trying to seem smoothly competent and assume an air of confidence and authority while remaining affable and accessible to both patrons and coworkers. It was a struggle. But I can see glimmers of enjoyment in among the bumbling. Perhaps I will soon be able to rest, a little.
posted by infobabe | 5:45 p.m.
2 Comments:
whoa..info, when you told us you had a new job earlier..you didn't tell us what a huge jump it was :surprise: congrats!!!
and thats great you have a solid village in place for infokid...its so nice just knowing there are others there to help :)
Yes, one less head-ache as it were. Congrats info, I'm sure that you'll settle into things and, even if they don't get any easier, they won't cause as many headaches.
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