I Need A Bigger Brain!
The following blog post was written at two separate times and gives in-the-moment, spontaneous accounts of current events and thoughts, with very little fine-tuning to either.
This blog post includes a minor rant which uses near-extreme sarcasm, and may not be suitable for young readers.
Saturday, 11 May 2013. 13:10.
There will be at least one point in everyone's life when they wish that something was bigger than it was: a bigger house, bigger ambitions, bigger body parts...(Mhmmm, cheeky!)
This is one of those moments for me.
I WISH I HAD A BIGGER BRAIN.
I'm on my training day for my new job at the library and THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN!
Also, bear in mind that we've only done the morning session so far. We're only half way through!
Quick note: When I say 'we', I'm referring to myself along with the other Saturday assistant trainees who are here. There are four Saturday assistants here (including me) and a separate group of people who will be casual assistants.
Ohh, and although we're at Strood library for our training, we've each got a different library in Medway that we'll be working at - I just thought I'd clear that up quickly, to save any confusion.
Anyway, we've just been taught about the system that's used for checking books in and out, and for registering new borrowers, etc. I can't lie, my brain has had some serious trouble coping with it - there's a lot to take in, and I must admit, I wandered off into laa-laa land a couple of times, which is not a good thing to do.
But, we did get to make up some fictional people who we could register on the system, to help us get used to how it works. That was so fun - I created an Irish man called Dr. John Smith, who had a daughter called Jenny! (Hopefully the Doctor Who references are quite obvious there...). That added a bit of entertainment to the proceedings, so now, if you want to sign yourself up for a library card in Medway, I'm your girl! ;)
I can already tell I'm going to love working at the library, just from this first little bit, and not only because of the book stamping!
I'm going to be so tempted to walk around to everyone and go "Shhhh! Silence in the library!" (another Doctor Who reference there...) and maybe even, "Count the shadows. Count...The shadows!" (aaand there's another one. I hope you're keeping up with all of these!)
Anyway, after the lunch break, we'll be going into the Customer Service session. I'm just hoping it's not going to be too much like a workshop. I'm no good with workshops. I'd need to be more confident to be good with workshops. I remember at school, I hated doing workshops. There was always a point where I'd feel on-the-spot while surrounded by people I'd had very little interaction with before.
Though, to be fair, that was mainly when I was younger. By the time I got to sixth form, I realised that I disliked workshops because the ones they shoved us into were completely pointless and an utter waste of time, yet we'd still be forced to be there. To make it worse, they'd choose the most inappropriate times to hold the workshops.
Honestly, this is what it was like:
'What's that? You have a huge pile of coursework to get done for the deadline this Friday? Here's a beliefs and ethics workshop you can have your time wasted in for the whole day, whether it interests you or not!'
'Ohh, have you all got exams soon? Hang on, we'll just pull you out of your important lessons today so you can listen to a stranger drone on about essay writing! Nope, we don't care that you know how to write an essay, or that you could be spending this time writing an essay for class!'
'Hmmm? You want to spend your day doing work for your chosen lessons, because that's what you signed up to sixth form for in the first place? Well, sorry, we think you'd be better off spending your time being instructed by a random outsider to think of ideas for a reality TV show, for no apparent reason! ....Urm, no, we're not actually sure what relevance it has to your A-Levels...'
The head of sixth form would even go and check that everyone was there, and if they weren't, she'd ring home or whatever.
I remember at one point in Year 13, I emailed her to say I wouldn't be attending an upcoming workshop, with permission from my mum (oooh, watch out!).
I said I was going to be doing my ICT coursework instead, because that would be a better use of my time. She spoke to my form tutor about it and basically told him I had to go. So I did, but I just did my best to not contribute at all. (I know, I'm so rebellious.)
Gosh, I'm still annoyed about that.
I should have just not turned up, so she would phone home and get the same wrath from my mother that the art teacher got that time. (But that's a whole other blog post.)
Anyway, ranting aside, I'm thinking that this customer service workshop will actually be of some use to me, so I should be open about it. I'm bound to learn something new, so I'll give it a go and see what happens...
Sunday, 12 May 2013. 16:34.
The customer service session was actually very useful!
Where there were only four of us trainees, it was a lot easier than any other workshops I've done. It was more like a discussion, to be honest. The woman who was running the session is the Senior Librarians at Strood, and she's lovely. She's the lady who interviewed us all for the jobs as well, so she knew us all, to a certain extent. There was also another woman sitting in on the session who is already a casual assistant at a number of libraries. There had been mentions of all of the current staff taking the workshop to bring them up-to-date, so to speak, so I'm assuming that's why she was there.
We spent the session talking about what made good and bad customer service, and watching videos which showed examples of each, which made it easier to take everything in. There was a role-playing exercise where scenarios had been created which might occur between a customer and a library assistant. We were all given the chance to give suggestions of how to deal with each situation, which didn't go too badly; I'm not great at role-playing, but I seemed to do well with helping the old lady find her way to the hospital, but I should have tried to help her find out what she needed to know about her husband's arthritis. *Note to self: Ask more questions, but don't stick your nose in too far.*
Anyway, it wasn't a bad experience, overall. I learnt a lot, so hopefully I'll be able to remember it all for when it comes to the real thing.
Especially considering I'll be starting sooner than I thought - before leaving yesterday, I was asked if I wanted to go and help out at Strood library on Tuesday, to give me some practice!
*Result!*
And this time, I didn't get lost on the way to Strood station! I doubt I'll be visiting Wainscott again any time soon!
*Double result!*
I start my work at Gillingham library on Saturday.
I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in properly!
And, I won't lie, the thing I'm looking forward to most is getting my name badge. I like name badges.
*Silly, giggly, grinning face.*
I'll probably keep you updated on how I'm getting on from time to time, but even if you don't see it on here, I'm bound to tweet about it. (@ForeverGibby)
In other news, I'm going to try and write something new for The Story Corner and hopefully it'll be on there soon!
I'm not quite sure how to finish this one....
Umm...
*Big grin*
This blog post includes a minor rant which uses near-extreme sarcasm, and may not be suitable for young readers.
Saturday, 11 May 2013. 13:10.
There will be at least one point in everyone's life when they wish that something was bigger than it was: a bigger house, bigger ambitions, bigger body parts...(Mhmmm, cheeky!)
This is one of those moments for me.
I WISH I HAD A BIGGER BRAIN.
I'm on my training day for my new job at the library and THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN!
Also, bear in mind that we've only done the morning session so far. We're only half way through!
Quick note: When I say 'we', I'm referring to myself along with the other Saturday assistant trainees who are here. There are four Saturday assistants here (including me) and a separate group of people who will be casual assistants.
Ohh, and although we're at Strood library for our training, we've each got a different library in Medway that we'll be working at - I just thought I'd clear that up quickly, to save any confusion.
Anyway, we've just been taught about the system that's used for checking books in and out, and for registering new borrowers, etc. I can't lie, my brain has had some serious trouble coping with it - there's a lot to take in, and I must admit, I wandered off into laa-laa land a couple of times, which is not a good thing to do.
But, we did get to make up some fictional people who we could register on the system, to help us get used to how it works. That was so fun - I created an Irish man called Dr. John Smith, who had a daughter called Jenny! (Hopefully the Doctor Who references are quite obvious there...). That added a bit of entertainment to the proceedings, so now, if you want to sign yourself up for a library card in Medway, I'm your girl! ;)I can already tell I'm going to love working at the library, just from this first little bit, and not only because of the book stamping!
I'm going to be so tempted to walk around to everyone and go "Shhhh! Silence in the library!" (another Doctor Who reference there...) and maybe even, "Count the shadows. Count...The shadows!" (aaand there's another one. I hope you're keeping up with all of these!)
Anyway, after the lunch break, we'll be going into the Customer Service session. I'm just hoping it's not going to be too much like a workshop. I'm no good with workshops. I'd need to be more confident to be good with workshops. I remember at school, I hated doing workshops. There was always a point where I'd feel on-the-spot while surrounded by people I'd had very little interaction with before.
Though, to be fair, that was mainly when I was younger. By the time I got to sixth form, I realised that I disliked workshops because the ones they shoved us into were completely pointless and an utter waste of time, yet we'd still be forced to be there. To make it worse, they'd choose the most inappropriate times to hold the workshops.
Honestly, this is what it was like:
'What's that? You have a huge pile of coursework to get done for the deadline this Friday? Here's a beliefs and ethics workshop you can have your time wasted in for the whole day, whether it interests you or not!'
'Ohh, have you all got exams soon? Hang on, we'll just pull you out of your important lessons today so you can listen to a stranger drone on about essay writing! Nope, we don't care that you know how to write an essay, or that you could be spending this time writing an essay for class!'
'Hmmm? You want to spend your day doing work for your chosen lessons, because that's what you signed up to sixth form for in the first place? Well, sorry, we think you'd be better off spending your time being instructed by a random outsider to think of ideas for a reality TV show, for no apparent reason! ....Urm, no, we're not actually sure what relevance it has to your A-Levels...'
The head of sixth form would even go and check that everyone was there, and if they weren't, she'd ring home or whatever.
I remember at one point in Year 13, I emailed her to say I wouldn't be attending an upcoming workshop, with permission from my mum (oooh, watch out!).
I said I was going to be doing my ICT coursework instead, because that would be a better use of my time. She spoke to my form tutor about it and basically told him I had to go. So I did, but I just did my best to not contribute at all. (I know, I'm so rebellious.)
Gosh, I'm still annoyed about that.
I should have just not turned up, so she would phone home and get the same wrath from my mother that the art teacher got that time. (But that's a whole other blog post.)
Anyway, ranting aside, I'm thinking that this customer service workshop will actually be of some use to me, so I should be open about it. I'm bound to learn something new, so I'll give it a go and see what happens...
Sunday, 12 May 2013. 16:34.
The customer service session was actually very useful!
Where there were only four of us trainees, it was a lot easier than any other workshops I've done. It was more like a discussion, to be honest. The woman who was running the session is the Senior Librarians at Strood, and she's lovely. She's the lady who interviewed us all for the jobs as well, so she knew us all, to a certain extent. There was also another woman sitting in on the session who is already a casual assistant at a number of libraries. There had been mentions of all of the current staff taking the workshop to bring them up-to-date, so to speak, so I'm assuming that's why she was there.
We spent the session talking about what made good and bad customer service, and watching videos which showed examples of each, which made it easier to take everything in. There was a role-playing exercise where scenarios had been created which might occur between a customer and a library assistant. We were all given the chance to give suggestions of how to deal with each situation, which didn't go too badly; I'm not great at role-playing, but I seemed to do well with helping the old lady find her way to the hospital, but I should have tried to help her find out what she needed to know about her husband's arthritis. *Note to self: Ask more questions, but don't stick your nose in too far.*
Anyway, it wasn't a bad experience, overall. I learnt a lot, so hopefully I'll be able to remember it all for when it comes to the real thing.
Especially considering I'll be starting sooner than I thought - before leaving yesterday, I was asked if I wanted to go and help out at Strood library on Tuesday, to give me some practice!
*Result!*
And this time, I didn't get lost on the way to Strood station! I doubt I'll be visiting Wainscott again any time soon!
*Double result!*
I start my work at Gillingham library on Saturday.
I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in properly!
And, I won't lie, the thing I'm looking forward to most is getting my name badge. I like name badges.
*Silly, giggly, grinning face.*
I'll probably keep you updated on how I'm getting on from time to time, but even if you don't see it on here, I'm bound to tweet about it. (@ForeverGibby)
In other news, I'm going to try and write something new for The Story Corner and hopefully it'll be on there soon!
I'm not quite sure how to finish this one....
Umm...
*Big grin*
Comments
Post a Comment