A DAY LIKE NO OTHER

This is a day that will go down in the history books.  I guess everyone has heard now about the earthquake that hit the east coast.  I happened to be at the front desk waiting on a customer.  At first I thought it was a truck outside or something.  I work in a 100 year old building and it shakes when there is heavy traffic.  But this went on and on and then the building started creaking and making a strange noise.  I looked up from the computer and saw the loft swaying and the windows rattling.  Then I noticed the computers were shaking.  People were freaking out, but it really wasn't that bad.  It was only a 1.7 by the time it got to Philly.  In fact a lot of people came in later and said they didn't even feel it.  Our guard was outside cutting the grass and he said he wouldn't have known it happened if someone hadn't told him.  And it seems as if anyone driving for some reason didn't feel it.  That's strange.

Besides the earth shaking under our feet, this has been the weirdest day at work.  We were short-handed again today because Diane had a vacation day today, so it was just Marquita and me working the desk.  We usually get from 5-9 new card registrations a day.  Today we had 27.  27!!!  Three times our highest day!  I spent most of the day making new cards while Marquita tried to keep the desk running.  We had piles and piles of books waiting to be checked in.  Lines of people waiting to check out.  A huge delivery of books from other agencies to check in.  (It didn't get finished.)  The wait for a computer is usually right away to 15 minutes.  Today the wait was a hour or more.

To top it off three people came over and started arguments with the branch head and the guard.  People called on the phone and screamed at us.  One woman was in the restroom for about 20 minutes.  She was very pregnant and we started getting concerned about her.  So Rob (the guard) knocked on the door and asked her if she was OK.  She started cursing him out through the door and when she came out she started screaming at Jerry (the boss) that she was being sexually harassed and that Rob had pounded on the door over and over for the 8 minutes she was in there.  Right.  Another guy was going to beat up all of us because he had a $12 fine on his late videos.  And he could too, he was a big guy and not mentally stable.

The mail came in around 12:30 p.m. and I didn't get to open it until 7 p.m.  That's how busy we were.  The books that I was supposed to enter never got in.  I'll have to do it tomorrow. When I went to count out the money from the cash register, things didn't add up.  I had to count it three times.  It took me so long to finally balance the books.   By the time I was putting it into the safe the lights were going off.


At dinner time I came home, picked up Joe and we went to see the new school that has just been built a few blocks from our house.  We watched the whole thing go up and were interested in seeing the inside.  It was a community open house between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.  It is beautiful!  I wish I had been able to attend a school like that.  Joe said the chemistry labs were bigger than the ones he used when he worked for the chemical plant.  It would be nice if his twins could go there.  It's right around the corner from where they live.

I didn't have time to take Joe home and get back to work on time, so he had to come with me.  It was only an hour and he always likes going to the library.  It's good for him to get out of the house and talk to people too.  I was so tired Joe took me out to dinner at the diner on the way home.  I fell asleep almost immediately.  I just woke up so that is why you are getting a post at 5 a.m.

I don't want to ever have another day like this day.  It was one of the worst days I've ever had at work.  And an earthquake thrown in for good measure.