I know it's not cool to love your job, and I have to admit that I can very easily get into a gripe-fest with the best of 'em, but I have to share a story today about why I love mine. I was walking around the floor around noon today, just looking around to see if anyone needed help. A woman called me over and said "Hey Miss Cathy! I'm glad you're here!" which is heartwarming, to say the least (I mean, who doesn't like to hear that someone is glad to see them?)
This woman (I'll call her D) has been in our library branch regularly to use the laptops in our Job Help Center. These computers are set out so that customers who are doing job-related work (resumes, getting email accounts, posting resumes online, searching for jobs, even studying for GED) can use them without having to work with the usual reservation software we have which limits people to 1-hour sessions, and only 3 of those a day. So D has been using the JHC nearly every day for a few months.
She called me over today to talk about how she finally finished the first class she took in college and is now taking Psychology. She's very excited because she passed the first one, and it's been so long since she was in school. She attributes her success to all the help she's gotten at our library! We've helped her learn to use Word so she can type her papers. We've helped her figure out how to submit her homework online through the college website. We've even helped her figure out her FAFSA and register for classes. We've been with her, helping her out, the whole way.
She told me this "it's been real hard, having to come here on the bus every day, but it's been worth it. We have our own computer now, which is why I haven't been coming in as much, but we don't have a printer yet, so I had to come in today to print out parts of the book I need." Yup, she's even getting her text books through the website!
She said "I hope I can do really well in this Psychology class, because it's all about the brain and talking to people to help them solve things, and that's what I know I'm meant to be doing." She had a huge smile on her face. I said "it feels really good to be working towards a job you know you'll love, doesn't it?"
"Yes, Miss Cathy, it surely does"
And that's all I have to say about that.
4 comments:
I love this. It's important to remember the subtle ways we impact people.
This is terrific! I love it when folks speak up and tell us what a difference the library makes in their lives. Absolutely the kind of story that can help us appreciate the joy we can find in our job, and that's an awesome thing!
Good for you Cat! Well done!
Yep, that's why I love my job, too.
I so admire you guys in public service. The one thing you do better than anyone is level the playing field and provide opportunities that otherwise wouldn't be available. It's stories like this that illustrate why our customers love us. Who couldn't vote for a levy to support people who do work like this? I love my job because I get to work with people like you.
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