the papers, the papers

did you know that you cannot get newspapers delivered to the hood? neither did i. but apparently we cannot get newspapers delivered to the library the way that other places can, so every week one lucky employee is in charge of the papers. also, these papers are not typically for sale anywhere in the neighborhood. for instance, you cannot get a new york times here in the hood. so it is the common practice that when you are in charge of the papers that you buy them in your own neighborhood each morning before you leave. you are allotted 10 extra minutes for this. this does not bode well for me since i am not good at remembering library duties before i get to the library. out of sight, out of mind i guess.
so the first time i was in charge of the papers i would say that i had about a 60% success rate of remembering to get the papers before i came to the library. this was not good. i had also been assigned this duty without being told (although it was written on a calendar that is no where near anything that i do), so the first day i was not only paperless but also clueless.
this week began my second week ever of being in charge of the papers. and i am SO determined to do a good job because i don't want anyone to have any ammunition against me. so tuesday i came in proudly holding all my ALA conference schwag and a bag of newspapers. turns out the head clerk had also bought the newspapers. this was perplexing. "oh," i said surprised, "i thought i was supposed to get the papers this week."
"oh yeah," she said flatly, "we weren't sure if you were really going to get them."
nice! thanks for the vote o' confidence.
so today i went to my favoritest bodega. the one run by the kurdish couple. i love them so. anyway i got my large cup of tea and the papers, but i noticed they did not have newsday. when i asked mr. kurdish man where the newsday was he said they no longer carried newsday. the shame of it all! anyway, then i had to double back to my second favorite bodega and get newsday (i would have gone there to begin with but they don't have tea. what gives?! you'll never be my favorite bodega at this rate!) so then i had to go back to where the first bodega was because that is where my car was parked. this was a huge waste of time. so inefficient.
so i arrived 10 minutes later than the allotted 10 minute late window period for paper getting.
ms. manager was not pleased. i belive she asked "what happend this morning?"
then i explained about the lack of newsdays (should i have offered to pick up one of the many polish papers in the neighborhood?) and how i wanted to make sure i got all the papers because i had been given money ahead of time and didn't want to show up missing a paper.
she then said that if this happens again i should just come without it. i should not have been late in order to do my job properly. i am sure the library was in a terrible mess those extra ten minutes without me.
so i ask you ... can i ever win? if i didn't have newsday i can imagine the whispering about the lack of newsday. but when i go out of my way to make sure i have newsday, i am criticized for taking too long. urgh.
but when i came over to my desk i found a little handmade thank you note from my favorite kid. what is he thanking me for? i have no idea. the note merely said "thank you. from FK"