Getting Paid to Shop

Let me start out by saying that I love this job. Curt calls it my "easy job." Every morning when we head out the door, he says, "Have a good day at your Easy Job." It's a great job. Here are some of the things that I love to do:

ORGANISE - I love to catalogue books. After all, cataloguing is really a form of organising the books electronically. For non-fiction, I get to decide where the book belongs in the Dewey decimal system (like 940.93). For fiction books, I decide which subject headings it belongs in, such as SURVIVAL and ADVENTURE and ALASKA-FICTION.

PROCESSING (which is pronounced proe-cessing) - Besides a bar code, each book gets covered, a label on its spine, etc. I also put "Tattle Tape" in each book which will make the security system beep if someone tries to take the book out of the library without checking it out. I like the name of the product - Tattle Tape - which is really what it's called, made by 3M.

COMPUTER - I like working on the computer all day, cataloguing or issuing books. I also like to help troubleshoot for the library's computer lab, the girls' laptops, the printer network, and even the copy machine. When a class is starting a new research project (pronounced proe-ject), they also come in for a lesson with me and I get to show them how to access the electronic resources.

TALK ABOUT BOOKS - Every 7th, 8th, and 9th grade class comes to the library once a week for a period of silent reading. It's my job to recommend books and to help them find something good. So I show them my crate of "favourites" and briefly describe each one. As the girls listen, I can see them getting excited. When I'm finished talking, I quickly move out of the way because the girls stampede me and my crate of books, trying to grab a certain one. It always makes me feel popular. I think they like my recommendations.

MAKING LISTS - This has always been a favourite of mine. In this job, I get paid to make lists of books about espionage, books about dragons, books about adoption, etc. (These lists help girls choose books) Even better are the lists I make of books we should buy. I get to read librarian magazines full of book reviews, and decide which ones we should buy.

READ - Besides reading librarian magazines, sometimes I get to sit and read with the silent reading classes. The teachers are supposed to sit with them, but if something comes up, they beg me apologetically to please take over. As if it was a hardship to sit there and read!

Well, you can probably see why I like this job so much.
And it gets even better:

Last Friday, I didn't feel like working. Maybe I had Friday-itis or something. So I was belly-aching a little. "I don't feel like working today."
My colleagues imediately went into solution mode. "How about cataloguing? You love to catalogue."
"Nah."
"How about making a book list?"
"Nah."
"Boy there must be something really wrong with you if you don't even want to catalogue or make lists! I know what you can do - you should go shopping at the bookstore."
Suddenly my spirits perked up. They want me to go shopping for books ... spending someone else's money. Perfect. I gathered the lists of lost books that needed to be replaced, worn-out books that needed to be replaced, and a few new books we'd been wanting to add to our collection. I was instructed to get anything else that looks good. (It sure helps that I work for a wealthy private school!)

I decided to bring Lucy along to help me shop. I might have too many books to carry. We also realised that we might have to stop for coffee and a muffin in order to validate our parking. Honest.
Two hours later, we returned with $800 worth of books. And muffins for the colleagues we left behind.
We got back just in time for lunch break.
I love this job!
And just think, I'll get to catalogue all the new books next!