That's just how it is

I spend altogether too much time analysing my marriage. It isn't depressing anymore, just sad.

Work, hmmm, I still enjoy it, but I have settled into it now and so the honeymoon period is over. I have been in my full-time position for 8 months. It hasn't been easy working full-time, I do wish I had stuck to the part-time work, but I was keen to get on with my career. Unfortunatley I am now missing out on spending time with my kids and being part of their school lives. It is the price you pay, I suppose. I feel like I can't walk away, but perhaps circumstances later in the year, or early next year, will force me to move anyway.

The thing I love most about my job is also what I hate, lol. People. That's it in a nutshell. I love entertaining the kids, reading and singing to them. I enjoy talking to the parents and swapping ideas for toilet training and feeding. But I hate the mess the children create. I hate the way they pull books off the shelves and leave them lying on the floor. There are very few parents who tell their child to pick up the books and put them away, or even just stack them in a pile to be put away later. I hate how they destroy my displays that I work so hard on. I hate how sometimes it feels like an up hill battle to keep the children's area looking inviting.

I hate our IT department and the fact that it seems determined to keep us in the stuck in the early 19th century. We are pretty much the last library in the COUNTRY to not have it's catalogue online. We don't have USB access, we don't have Microsoft Word on our computers, we don't have our own web page. We do have two computers, that are constantly booked out, but only offer printing and internet services. We have one word processing computer, but no internet on it, so if you need to print an attachment, in Word, you can't. It is so incredibly frustrating, and embarrassing, and it doesn't help us keeps our patrons happy.

Mind you, some people will never be happy. One woman ranted at me this week because I couldn't make her document look they way she thought it should. Another man, who comes in regularly, doesn't seem to know what a shower is and wastes our time with his inane requests for lists of things (literally). Last week he came in three times wanting the list of every particular shopping centre in one state. Don't mind doing it once, but three times, for the same thing! Seriously, this is such a waste of our time. But we do it, with a smile (and gritted teeth), because it is our job. It just isn't pleasant all the time.

I still get on well with the other staff members. Some of them I don't talk to much, and others I get on great with. Overall, the job is a good one and I suppose I should consider myself lucky, it could be worse. Must admit that I regularly think about becoming a stay at home mum again though.