So you want to become a librarian?
SSSHHHH not so loud or i’m gonna have to ask you to leave
I had the job shelving books. I’d show up in a button-up shirt and slacks and I could shove all day with no problem at all. No one would bother me. I’d show up in ripped jeans, a Metallica t-shirt, and 4 years since my last haircut and people would ask me for help every moment of the day. Libraries are weird.
Good example of outfits sending signals.
Slacks and a button-up probably made you look like management just out picking up slack, and people subconsciously left you alone - “oh, they’re probably really busy with management stuff and also had to go shelve books… I’ll leave them alone”
Casual clothes in contrast would have signalled “worker” - “I’ll just go ask that person, it’s not like they’re doing anything important, they’re just shelving books!”
It probably didn’t help that I was a 17-year-old that looked like I was in my late twenties.
Never wanted to climb the ladder, but it was the only way I could really get better pay.
The higher I go, the more I can’t stand the conversations. Being straightforward is a career killer. Competing with folks that talk big without knowledge, knowing I need to carefully balance working with them while making sure my ass is documented and covered for any blame when they screw up and want to throw someone under the bus.
I have generally still loved talking to the “grunts” and customers. People who have real problems and doing real stuff without so much office politic crap going on. Not people trying to write blog posts to try to sound smart without actually doing anything or actually knowing the material.
I’ve climbed the corporate ladder and traveled all over the world until I got near the top where the nepotism is thick. Said ‘fuck that’ and bailed out early.
New plan: “Work for myself.” Took me a decade to get here because of little things like health care and capital.
Been on my own for almost 2 years now and it is glorious.
I actually started climbing the ladder and to be honest, I fucking hate it and am looking for a way out. I have never dealt with so many people that are willing to sacrifice their own dignity to be a sycophant for the sake of money.
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almost all my friends dream of this. ideally, communes start with a community buying land and building infrastructure, which gets pricier each day 😌 I’ll settle for an RV at this point
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I’m 40 and getting my massage therapy license out of nowhere. Similar line of thinking.
Every interview: “oh great! You have a lot of manager experience! We’ve been looking for somebody with those skills!”
Me: “I’m not really looking to be in charge of people. I find the generational differences too tiring. I can’t relate and I’m tired of having to tell children to put away their phones.”
And within a year I’m a manager again. Just can’t seem to shake it. Which is why every damn job on my resume is manager. At least this time around I am managing things and not people. So a little better.
Get your library science degree now, there are only a few accredited programs. I thought about doing this earlier this year and was surprised at how complicated it actually was to become a librarian.
Yeah, feel the same since the great slopification of the internet and also my job…
You can do both. Climb the
corporatebook ladder!Oof. Literally my life’s story so far.
