Sometimes we never know how things work, or do not, until a crisis rears its head. Oh, the fun, the joy, of technology that does not work at the reference desk. Today, our reference desk is about as much fun as a poo throwing monkey. Fun until the poo slaps you in the face.
The short version: Our new print management system, which started today, is completely on the fritz for all 250 of our student computers and we have to release each print job individually at the Reference Desk.
The long version: Our staff are wonderful and reacted well. I went out to the desk at 10 and it was chaos, but it was working well enough. Staff were helping students print their jobs as organized as possible and I even smiled because this was so crazy it was actually hilarious. This incident, though not what I would have chosen, reminded me why I like the people I work with everyday. Nobody seemed angry and we were all doing our best to make it work. The students, were, for the most part, understanding, which helped.
I think so many things are influenced by attitude. I will not claim to be good at controlling my own attitudes (and you have all read enough rants to know that at least), but a quick stroll outside, some deep breaths, or remembering a blessing can make the difference between a crisis and a disaster. A crisis is not always bad. A crisis simply means you have the choice to do something and you can choose correctly or you can choose something that will make it worse.
I know I am greatly simplifying matters, but I still think that is true.
So today, on this day, if you choose to wallow in your bad mood, please do so elsewhere. The rest of use are thinking of things like whiskers on kittens, warm woolen mittens, and brown paper packages tied up with string.
–Jane, please duck, flying poo in area
