Blog December Post 21 - A call to Action

Today's Destiny Card is Action - well actually the first one I pulled was Prudence but I really couldn't think hard enough to write a post on prudence so action it is!

This week has been a week of action - well the whole year has been really, but because I'm on leave as of tomorrow, the action has ramped up this week.  I had to make sure I completed most tasks that had to be done before I go on leave.

There has been a lot happening at work with regard to staffing.  One of my hardest working staff members (ok they all work hard but this one works particularly hard) is going to be off on sick leave for some time.  This is making rostering for relief staff a very fun (not really) task for me.  At the same time, I'm trying not to get too caught up in my management hat to become desensitised to what my staff member is going through during this difficult time.

This staff member works with me regularly and we have come to work together really well.  Where I lapse, they step in, where they lapse, I step in.  We almost don't have to communicate when we are on together as we just know when to step in and what to do.  This person is possibly the most organised person I know and prior to going on leave had organised that we had enough stationery, soap and toilet paper, got the Christmas decorations up, put together the stuff we needed for the Summer Reading program, and basically left with everything ready to go.

Now the leave will be extended, and I don't think they were prepared for the extent of their leave.  And some of the tasks that they do really well, like tallying up all the money at the end of the month (I really suck when it comes to numbers and maths), will have to be done by me.

I will be working with a few different staff members during this time, so the communication aspect will have to be worked on.  I will have to remember to be more communicative to them as we don't have that working relationship as I do with my staff member on leave.

I think it will be a challenging time but it is probably going to be good for me to be more communicative and work at getting procedures and everything more up to date.  So really it's a call to Action for me. 

I really hope that I do have a relaxing and refreshing break as next year is looking to be a challenging one - but then really, when aren't they!!

On a happier note - this afternoon is our work Christmas party and I'm really looking forward to kicking the heels up (well not as much as I could as the boss will be there and all) and talking with staff from all areas of the organisation.

Blog December Post 12 - It's one of those days

I must admit, I'm a bit stumped about what to write today.

I could ask those that read this blog - what would you like to see me write about?

Anyway, instead I will bore you with how frustrating my day was yesterday.  You may remember that I predicted that this week would be stressful.  It makes me wonder why I take leave, as when I return there is so much work to do.  And I had only 3 days off this time!!

So yesterday was frustrating for a number of reasons but I suppose I really can't go into them because some are political, and some regard the lack of space on the shelves for books which is causing me no end of frustration as I have weeded and weeded and weeded - so I may just have to purchase new shelves which is not an easy task at this time of year.

I also ended the day with another one of our public computers going stupid.  And due to our limited IT staff, I know we will most likely have to wait a while before it is fixed - with school holidays coming up it will cause extra stress filling bookings - can't wait to get a computer booking system.

Then I got home and found that we have only received one calendar that my daughter had made at school (the students draw a picture and then they put it on a calendar) when I had ordered 3.  So today I have to chase up the school about it.

They had the school presentation "night" on yesterday "afternoon" at 5.30pm.  My bug bear about that is what about parents that work - I don't get home till around 6pm so never get to go to school functions.  Yes I could have tried to leave early but as mentioned above, yesterday was one of those days where that wasn't going to happen - unfortunately, most days are like that.

Then my last bug bear of the day was when I ordered some books from a particular online ebook shop and they are in ePub format.  However, they won't load onto Bluefire Reader on my tablet.  All other ePub books from other online shops do but not from this shop - the files come across as ACSM (I think that is the file format).  I am stumped and I can add that to another ebook frustration of mine!

So let's all toast our coffees, teas or milos to a better day today!!

Blog December Post 11 - Back to work

I'm heading back to work today after an extended weekend - I  had Thursday and Friday off last week, and yesterday off this week as my parents were down from Qld.

Due to the connected nature of the world today, I incidently read work emails while on leave.  This has enlightened me to the fact that this week may turn into a particularly stressful week.

There is some library politics going on, I have a staff member on sick leave and there may be issues around their return to work, and I may have to do some IT stuff that I really don't have time to do.

I've seen a few comments on Twitter about how the days leading up to Christmas always end up stressing people out - well it looks like it will be true in my case.

That said the positives about the coming weeks are:

• I only have 9 working days left until I'm on leave for 2 and half weeks
• The work Secret Santa party is on this week
• The work Christmas party is on next week
• I will have a Monday to catch up on everything
• I will have half hour with the teachers from a local school to share information about their local library and how it can assist them with teaching and leisure
• I will have a last day of work before Christmas - which is always a lot of fun!!