Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

I know this does not happen to anyone else, but I’m such a “giving” person that I allow others to use the media center workroom (where copiers, electronic staplers, electronic hole punches, scantron machines –yes, some still use them, and other resources are made available to teachers)–long after I leave each day. I make these resources available in the library’s workroom as a way to get teachers in there. Amazing collaboration can happen while they are in there doing teacher prep stuff. (Truthfully, my principal said that is where the stuff had to go, so I am making the best of it.) So the door of this workroom is never locked, even after I leave at the end of the school day. Amazingly there are teachers who stay very late to do work and prepare for future classes long after students have gone home daily.

So today I come in to find a teacher who had been there extremely early (OMG I was there at 7:00, so she must have come in at 6:00AM) in tears because the laminator ate her project.  She showed me the bars in the back tightly wrapped with someone else’s laminated product along with several other layers of lamination, and hers halfway eaten–she had tried to stop it when she realized it was not coming through. Reverse was not an option it was so bad.  Her project was ruined–kids work she had planned to proudly display somewhere. After calming her down, I set about trying to get the film off the machine.

Step 1 – Let it COOL (while I calm down–I was mildly ticked.)

Step 2 – Try reverse one more time–no dice.

Step 3 – Come to to the realization that whoever had created the problem had left it that way the afternoon before long after I was gone…left for someone else to discover only too late.

What was I to do?

I sat at my workstation and opened my email, ready to send fire and hot lava in the form of words streaming through the network in the form of a nasty, accusatory email–blasting the unknown culprit who could have at LEAST left an unsigned note on the laminator that said “oops.” Then no one else would have suffered a loss.

But no–that does not breed collaboration.  And i have prided myself on my ability to help with almost any issue, be it a belligerent and stubborn projector or a major collaborative unit.  So, I changed my mind and decided to just send an email letting folks know the laminator was temporarily out of commission.  I don’t know what came over me–maybe it was my anger or something. I desperately tried to mask it.  But here is what i sent to the teachers regarding the side-lined laminator:

Subject Line: Oh No! Lammy is Sick!

The laminator is out of commission.  It must have been feeling sick sometime yesterday or the day before, because its insides are all wound together with film (film tangled inside).  I’m positive its stomach is really killing it (perhaps this is the electronic manifestation of that virus going around…?) Somehow it magically wound laminated material around the bars, and the next unsuspecting person who did not know of its ails tried to laminate her material late yesterday evening, only to realize too late the machine was very sick and unable to produce.  It ate her project intended for lamination!

I will forgive my friend “Lammy” because he could not tell anyone that his tummy hurt.  I have put in an urgent care call to Doctor Wright, Lammy’s favorite electrician and fix-it guy.  Hopefully Lammy will be better in no time.

If you consider Lammy your friend too, PLEASE let us know when Lammy isn’t behaving or feeling well.  We sometimes can get Lammy fixed right up with little or no time out of commission. But at this point, Lammy should be considered like he is in ICU. He is definitely in critical condition.

I got many responses today from teachers who said they were sorry to hear about Lammy’s condition, and they sent well wishes for a speedy recovery.  (Yeah, I suppose I deserved that.)  Upon gettting the film off (yes my neighborly district electrician and fix it guy had to help) I retrieved the product that belonged to the culprit. The product, a cute sign that reads “homework,” is taped to my door with a note–”claim me.”  No one claimed it today, but I imagine it will be gone when i go back in tomorrow. (I don’t think i would have been brave enough to claim it in public either.)

I hope everyone was okay with my Lammy story. No one seemed mad with me. I probably will never know who upset Lammy, and that is probably for the best.  Sigh.

Anyone else have any funny (or not so funny) stories?

Oh, Lammy’s all better now. TOO BAD the film I just ordered is the wrong kind.  I’m now waiting for a new roll of replacement film. Sigh.  Such is the life of a school librarian.