Oscar the Grouch and Me

Dirty, disgusting grocery carts. People who say “Let’s do lunch,” but don’t. Dropped phone calls. These are just a few of my pet peeves. But I’ve got a million of ‘em. Well, six of them. And […]
Dirty, disgusting grocery carts. People who say “Let’s do lunch,” but don’t. Dropped phone calls. These are just a few of my pet peeves. But I’ve got a million of ‘em. Well, six of them. And […]
I consider myself relatively easy-going. It takes a lot to tick me off. And “hate?” Well, that’s just not a word in my vocabulary – unless used in the context of “I hate broccoli”, in […]
Every year I make New Year’s resolutions and every year I break them. So this year I’m trying something different — resolutions for other people. Hey world — here are the changes I’d like to […]
If you work with the public, you’re stressed. Unreasonable customers. Demanding bosses. Reduced staffing. I love my job, but the workload is tough and getting tougher. What can we do to keep our spirits up? […]
I’ve worked at my local public library long enough to be on a first-name basis with many of our patrons, and the rest greet me with the courtesy and respect that, as a trained professional, […]
“I hate people who use the automatic door opener when they don’t need to,” my co-worker Sara said recently. I always use the automatic door opener! I used to struggle to open the heavy doors […]
Are you troubled by people who endlessly blather on their cell phones in public? I propose a new medical condition, which I’m calling Cell Phone Echolalia. CPE causes the sufferer to repeat everything a person […]
I work at the circulation desk of my local public library. I recently handed a patron’s library card back to her after scanning it, but I lost my grip and basically ended up throwing at […]
After spending five minutes of my life that I’ll never get back again trying to politely get rid of a slick-talking dude who’d phoned, intent upon selling me seasons tickets to the opera, I asked […]
The art of storytelling is alive and well, which is something you soon learn when you work at a public library. I’m not talking about the stories in the books. I’m talking about the excuses […]