Favorite Job

Yesterday, I wrote how reading Moby Dick made me reminisce about the time I spent at the New York Society Library.

New York Society Library - Circulation Desk

I had two main duties at the library: to catalog all newly acquired books and to maintain, clean and update the giant old catalog files. Also, every member of the library staff had to spend an hour a day at the circulation desk, so we would get to know the patrons.

This job and I were made for each other.

I delighted in walking the reading halls, book stacks and stairwells of the magnificent old building, always conscious of the ghosts of old writers, thinkers and philosophers who must have decided to remain here for eternity if they possibly had a choice.

I looked forward to exploring the secrets and mysteries of the card catalog, deciphering notes and codes of librarians past. Sometimes hours went by while I dug through those drawers, until someone came to remind me that my lunch hour had passed long ago.

New York Society Library - Catalog Room

Every new book that the library acquired passed through my hands. Sometimes I couldn’t stand to part with a book that interested me deeply and would keep it for longer than I should have. Sometimes I kept a whole stack of new books, causing our director to come and scold me for “squirreling away books again!”

The director of this glorious library, Mr. Piel,  was an elderly, kind, book loving, eccentrically Dickensian sort of character. He and I liked, respected and appreciated each other.

There was only one problem – Mr. Piel was a very frugal man, one might even say miserly. He had such an aversion to spending money, I could see the comical side of it even then, although it didn’t always make me laugh.

Always flustered when it came to making demands for myself, and shy to talk about something as common as money, I was given an embarrassingly low salary when I started the job. After talking to my colleagues, I realized that I could easily ask Mr. Piel for more.

But I didn’t have the courage to do it. I worried that Mr. Peal would fire me for asking for more money, when in reality I would have been happy to work there for free.

In the end it was Mr. Piel who gave me the opportunity to ask for a raise. At the beginning of the summer he called me into his office and grandiosely announced that I was doing a great job and was being promoted and awarded with a new title. And then he opened the door to let me out.

Even I knew that this was not an opportunity to waste. “Will this promotion include a raise, Mr. Piel?” I asked sheepishly.

Mr. Piel looked dumbfounded.

A raise?

But once I started, I didn’t let go and somehow I got Mr. Piel to add a thousand dollars to my very low salary.

I was elated by my success and couldn’t wait to impress Jeff with my financial and practical acumen.

He wasn’t as impressed as I hoped he would be.

For months after the salary negotiations, Mr. Piel avoided me in the hallways. I fear that he held that thousand against me bitterly.

And then, at the end of the summer Jeff and I made our decision to move to the Midwest.

I was happy with the decision. But I was devastated about leaving my job. I couldn’t imagine how the library could possibly function without me.

And the thought of telling Mr. Piel about my desertion broke my heart.

When I walked into his stately office, I was nervous and apologetic. I started by giving Mr. Piel a larger picture of our situation, then slowly narrowed my presentation to the fact that I was quitting.

He looked at me for a second as if trying to distill the argument to one essential fact, breathed a deep sigh of relief and said with a smile:

“Oh good, and I thought you had come to ask for another raise!”

Tagged as: favorite job, job as librarian, New York Society Library