Rare Evenings with Ben Home

Because of a coworker's school schedule, for the next few weeks I get Ben in the evenings on Mondays. Yay! Usually, I am on my own most evenings. Being preggers and wrangling a toddler makes this a distinct challenge. At my most sick I used to lay on the couch trying not to be sick and feel so guilty about being a bad mommy for Tyle, or be taking care of him and running off to be sick periodically. It's much better now. Now, I avoid the stairs and try to change his diapers downstairs and end up chasing a half-naked toddler around the living room! Ha ha!

My complaint is that the library is short staffed, and because Ben is assistant manager it falls to him to cover, and he is working four evenings a week instead of the usual two that the rest of the staff are doing. They want a minimum of three workers on-hand, but often have just two evenings, which makes dinner breaks impossible, and leaves staff feeling unsafe and alone in the lower level of the building. Kids come and take up all the computers in the computer room and start yelling and acting out and often have to be asked to leave. Once they took revenge by throwing apples at the windows and he called the police to intervene. They might shut down the computer bank evenings. Patrons have complained that their children have been teased by other children unwatched by adults. This is not good for anybody! Meanwhile, I feel abandoned at home and Ben worries that he is missing out on the pregnancy, and of course feels terrible about leaving me at home. Of course he has tried to effect change, and still tries. Once he even ran home (the library is barely 2 blocks away) to change a poopie diaper I couldn't handle, leaving his staff there in stiches! It was hilarious.

I understand the financial and staffing troubles of the library, but rumor has it some departments are flush while others suffer. I think they should shift a few over from the main library's childrens or fiction departments. Or perhaps decide to be less top-heavy with so many degreed staff in back offices. Just my opinion, mind you! None of this is secret, so I hope I'm not causing any trouble for Maze branch staff or for Ben by posting anything. Even so, I'm NOT telling any of the behind-the-scenes day-to-day-task difficulties the staff encounter when short-staffed. But this IS something I live with day to day, this is my reality, and I refuse to hide it from my own blog, which is completely personal in nature. So if anyone from the library reads this, know that this is a personal blog and not an attempt to contact the library!

Still, I'm not sure what to do or how to handle this. It would be highly inappropriate for me to contact the library director, I'm not even staff. A letter to a local newspaper would probably get Ben into a great deal of trouble, since I'm obviously a spouse. I do wish patrons would put their complaints in writing. If they just complain verbally it doesn't go anywhere, it gets passed on up but it doesn't have any official weight or require official follow-up.

In the meantime, I am very much enjoying Ben at home Monday evenings for a few weeks. Last night was great. We ate dinner together leisurely, went for a walk around the neighborhood, saw a police car, ambulance, and fire truck in action down the street, and Ben gave Tyler his bath and nighttime story.