Dilema Solved

Last week, I was pondering the ins and outs of a new position at the librarywhere I work.   I went to work on Thursday after deciding that I would go ahead and apply for the job.   But then we had a bit of a human resources earthquake that day, and I’ve changed my mind.   Here’s how it went:

As soon as I got to work, I had an email from the supervisor in the department with the job opening, saying that she’s leaving the library this fall.   Penny is nice enough – she’s really shy and quiet, and I don’t know her well, but I’ve never had any reason to dislike her, and I knew that I could work for her if I  were to get the job.   But if she’s leaving, that means that Alisha will get her job – it’s pretty much a given.   Alisha is the second in command in that department, and she’s my least favorite person in the whole library.   She’s grumpy and seems to have a chip on her shoulder a good deal of the time.   I absolutely do not want to work for her.   Maybe for $50/hr – but not for $18.  

So with this news, I was glad that I had not yet submitted my application.   I went to talk to my supervisor about it later in the day.   I adore Janice.   She’s a fantastic boss, and all of us in the circulation department love her – and we work our butts off for her, because she makes us want to (and because as hard as we’re all working, we know that she’s working harder).   I asked for a minute of her time, and she said that she needed to talk with me aswell.   She said that she’s decided to retire next month.   She’s been at the library since 1978 – ever since I was born.   I cannot picture the library continuing to function without her, but of course it will.  

An hour later, one of my friends at the circ desk confided in me that she’s going to apply for the job I had been eyeing.   I hadn’t thought that anyone else I work with was interested, but Amy is.   She’s been at the library for 6 years, and was a contender for the lead circ position earlier this year.   She’s an obvious choice over me for the open job, with much more library experience than I have.  

When Janice leaves next month, my friend Nora will become the circ manager.   She’s one of my favorite people at work, and she will do a wonderful job as the manager.   I will enjoy working for her as much as I enjoy working for Janice.   If I were to get the other job (assuming Amy doesn’t apply, because if she does, she’s a shoe-in), I would be working for Alisha, and that would just suck.  

It’s interesting that all of this is happening now.   Our library is a pretty stable place.   In the three years I’ve worked there, we’ve had  three people quit, plus two shelvers who graduated from high school and went off to college – we had known when they started that they would be leaving in two years.   Now all in one week we had one person leave (vacating the position I was considering) and two long-term supervisors announcing their resignation.   Must be something in the water.  

One of the people who commented on my post last week told about passing on a job in order to stay in one with a boss and coworkers he loved.   But then the boss left and was replacedwith a really bad one, and the job went downhill from there.   I guess in my case it’s happened before I even applied.   I shudder to think about getting the other job and then finding out six months later that Penny’s leaving and Alisha is my new boss.   Thank goodness it happened now!   I will happily continue in my current job, sad to see my supervisor leaving but glad to know that her replacement is someone I will be happy to work with.   Life is good.