January 24th 2015

January 24^th 2015: Today I am up on the Gold Gallery with Roy Johnson and the new guy. For the last week they have had him posted on the Landing and Manuscripts area while being trained. Today there are three of us, including myself, posted up here so I am going to stay off in the corner as much as possible. They are both cool guys so the conversations are making the day fly right by, and plus I get to play training officer.

I found out Thursday that (redacted) was ranting down in the break room about “somebody” and he got written up. The one who wrote him up was Clump. She CAN be a bitch but his side of the story seems pretty modest. She does not write anyone up unless you REALLY piss her off. He’s a great guy but he has the tendency to shoot his mouth off. Which is most-likely what happened. They kicked him out of the Monitor Room position and made him a Relief Officer. I do not trust Clump, but A.J. must have really set her off more than he admits.

In other news Mismanagement is sleeping at the museum while she looks for a new apartment. I am guessing she tried to pull her credit scam on her landlord too. You know the last person to pull that kind of thing with? The mystery is where does that money go? She gets paid a lot yet is always bumming for money and credit. Drugs, gambling problem, gigolos? Before she killed (redacted) she would always get money from her. It’s all really sad.

Since it’s the Winter time a lot of homeless people come into the museum. I am glad I am not posted on the doors because I do not know how I could turn them away. You have to be an asshole here, Knucklehead insists on it, but it is a moral grey area. Some of them homeless people in the neighborhood are like that for a reason. A lot of them ARE crazy and dangerous. (Redacted) takes it to another level; following them around like a P.I. in an old noir detective movie. He has a good reason but takes it to an extreme.

While I was off taking a 10-100 I heard “N.O.R.A.” come in over the radio. “N.O.R.A.” means “Need Officer Right Away” you know like a “mayday”. It got the Monitor Room into a tizzy. Turns out it was just someone dicking around. That is seriously not cool. 

Dealing With The Public

Let me just come right out and say that people can be assholes. I do not just mean their attitudes, I mean the fact that they are so in a daze that they don’t know what the hell they are doing. Stubbornness and snobbery are two of the main things you will deal with working with the public.

When it comes to communication, and enforcing the rules and policies, greeting everyone with a smile is the best course of action. Even if they don’t acknowledge your existence right away, and they don’t. To them you are the help, but you do not have to drop yourself into that role. There are Supervisors that work here who believe they are Alphas when they are really Omegas, or Betas, in that situation. They treat guests like they are cattle and you do not want to take it THAT far either.

You don’t want to drop yourself to that level where you set your mind at a point when your fellow human beings are only numbers. I have been there and it’s a slump not easy to escape in this profession. You need to treat EVERYONE with courtesy and respect. Regardless of how fucking retarded they will react. 

January 10th 2015

January 10^th 2015: Two events going on tonight. They have yet again double booked and I doubt we will have the manpower to cover it. Luckily the one event is over at 8. The schedule is all fucked up. It says I am working until midnight. The hell I am! If they expect me to work a full twelve hours Thursday then I’m leaving at 10:15. They are the ones insisting on the un-proven 25-hour limit law. Next week’s schedule is messed up too. There is a wedding next Sunday. They got me down for 9AM to midnight then too. I only agreed to work 4 to midnight, the actual wedding. I hate to say it, but I kinda miss Mr. Ass. At least he was on the ball with the scheduling. [He actually wasn't I don't know what the hell I was taking when I wrote this.]

I have always noticed that when you volunteer to work a special event they put you down for an hour before the museum closes to the public. We are like pawns in this messed up chess game. A lot of people would just say “yo dawg it’s an extra hour”, yes it is but their intention is to have us take over for the relief guards that go home at 4. That is what it really means. To make matters worse I was suppose to be posted at H.H. (Redacted) said he was on 4^th Floor to relieve (Miss. Redacted). Screw it, I’m getting plenty of writing done either way.

Plot twist! I am posted on the Loading Dock for the wedding and it’s all gravy. The caterers are familiar so I’m in the clear until 10:15!

January 8th 2015

January 8, 2015: Today Mismanagament talked about not signing out in our time sheets. It was an incredibly demented speech she made. She is very adamant about us not signing out on our time sheets until we are leaving the building. First of all it’s not that big of a deal and second it’s one less thing we need to deal with at the end of the day. The less we have to converse with Predator the better.

Loonetoons looks sick today, of course she always does on days like this, but this seems genuine. Typically a guard fakes being sick so they can go home sooner. I never understood why though. You just have to come back and make up the time the next day. Some guards do the “ugh I’m sick” thing on an almost constant basis. I remember Brownnose did it this one time. Oscar worthy performance. As soon as she got out the door she was happy as a lark. Almost skipping down the street. Some even go to extremes if they REALLY don’t want to work that day. Bear (presumably) fake threw-up over the radio to get out of working a wedding.

Do not take this as bragging but there have been a few times I thought about calling out sick, but pushed through. Not because I am loyal, but because I do not get sick days. So I cannot afford it like the full time guards can. If any of them want to call out sick they just do. If any of the full-time guards wanted to call out they can still get salary. I don’t get that, if I’m not here I don’t get paid. Much like a lot of 20 somethings in the Obamanation of America.