The Talk.

My Assistant Boss Karen has a very hard time staying put.

Her official Assigned place is the office which I share with her. To be more specific, her place is the chair in my office which I (sometimes) share with her. (Sometimes I sit on the desk because I can snoopervise her better from there. Also, I can ask for treats and drink from my Very Own water cup.) (Oh, and sometimes I sit in another chair and nap.) (And sometimes I get locked out of MY office because there's some laptop cord I'm not supposed to nibble on lying around--but that's a story for another day.)

So the problem here is that I can't properly manage her from anywhere, because all of this running around cuts into my Naptime. If she would just stay put, I could snooze peacefully somewhere in my Office and know that she's getting things done. I don't have time to follow her all over the place, and there are certain places that I will NOT follow her (like Outside).

So I decided that I need to have a Talk with her about her overly-active lifestyle. So that she would take me Seriously, I asked AABs Becki and Bonnie to join us. (I'm not afraid to use a little Intimidation--sometimes it's necessary with this one.)


See how we all tell AB Karen to Stay Put?!? This Bossing is serious business, my friends.

Unfortunately, I must report that this Talk had absolutely zero effect on AB Karen, and she continues to zoom all over the place during the day.

But she does generally carry a bag of treats with her when she's moving around, so that's something.

Bossing is Tough Stuff,

Tober

Long time, no blogging!

Hi everybody!

It's been two whole weeks since my last post! I've tried to at least snoop around on everyone's blogs a bit, but we've been "busy" here. I use the quotes because sometimes I suspect that helping me with my blog is not the High Priority Library Business that it should be. So there's all sorts of "busyness" going on that isn't very important, like:

1. A big long staff meeting during which I heard laughter,

2. Making a tree out of construction paper,

3. Putting stickers on books,

4. Eating lunch,

5. Having bored meetings and working on library budget things,

6. And, last but not least, planning for festival parade float book sale carpet cleaning mess week.

None of these things are as important as UPDATING MY BLOG. Here is how I have been spending my time:

Supervising staff:



Greeting customers:



Helping with decorations:



Guarding unattended belongings:



NOT BLOGGING because my helper is too "busy":



I can almost promise that I will have lots of posts later this month, because something about moving books and furnitures and making floaty parade floats inspires AAB Blog Helper to sit down at her desk and be a helpful Assistant. Maybe it's her way of shirking her Librarianly duties?

Purrs,

Tober

PS--I would like to issue a Formal Apology to AAB Linda White for urping on her very important papers. AAB Linda, I am the most sorry about that. You will need to cover your desk with a tarp from now on. (AB Karen should do this, too. Just in case.)

Treats

On Saturday I learned that I do have a limit when it comes to treats. Unfortunately I learned a little too late. I would have pictures, but my photographer was not available, and you wouldn't want to see them anyways.

Today I got mostly tummy rubbings and a little Catnip. I feel all better now. I think I'll take it easy on the treats for a while.

Oh, and on further consideration (and attendance) I've decided that Staff Meetings are fabulous! No matter how "Important" the meeting is, my tummy is First Thing on the Agenda!

He of the rumbly tumbly,

Tober

Oh what a week!

I am very, very Sorry that I haven't had time to post in the last week. It has been very busy at the Library, and the Staff has worked hard to prepare for the new Library system. They all did Training so that they can be Very Good Library Staff when we open at 2:00 on Monday.

They have asked me to relay a message to our Wonderful Customers: "Thank you for being very patient with us and for making the effort to return most of your items by this week-end. This will make the transition easier for all of us, and we can't wait to see you again when we have our new Evergreen system up and running!" Or something like that.

Monday they had a Staff Meeting which I attended. I have learned that I should be present for Staff Meetings, because when I roll over in the center of the table, anyone within reach is unable to resist my remarkably soft belly-fur.

They worked hard with this Evergreen thing. . . so hard, that at first I thought the attentions to ME were going to decline. This was not the case. I got Catnip every day. I usually don't get Catnip every day, but I think they felt Guilty because they were focused on Other Things.

Here I am loving my Catnip:


I am also learning that the library has many wonderful Sleeping Places. It has been warm here, and there are lots of things to watch out the windows as Spring comes. (I guess Hoodie-Hoo Day works, so I must be on the lookout for other Human Super-Powers.) I find that it is very Peaceful to take afternoon naps in the Adult Stacks.

Here I am hanging out in a Favorite chair by a Favorite window:


Can you see me?

On Friday I found something to Hunt in the Technology/Genealogy/Head Librarian/Cataloging Office (this office has a LOT of Staff in it). It was on Linda's desk, and I tried to rearrange things to get to it. It was very Exciting, although I never caught the thing:


Notice how very Serious my Assistant Boss Karen is in this photo. She and Cathie, Linda, and Christine were all very dedicated to the Hunt of the thing. My Staff makes an excellent Team when called into action. If the thing is still in the Library next week, we will undoubtably find it and give it a stern talking to. If I don't eat it first.

The highlight of the week was on Saturday when I was visited by a Celebrity. Big Red, a renowned Beanie Baby Bear, was driven to the Library by his Personal Assistant Judy Cox. Big Red is a World Traveler, and I was Most Excited to meet him. He is small in size but very big in Personality and Charm (kind of like me!). We had a photo session--with TWO photographers--which in my opinion is Very Big Doings.

Here I am posing with Big Red on my desk:


I even signed Big Red's autograph book and gave him the link to this blog in case he wants to keep in touch. I think I should have an autograph book, too, so I can keep track of all of the Very Important People I meet!

As you can see, it was a very fun-filled week!

Have a nice Sunday!

Tober

Tober's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

It started with a Staff Meeting at 8:30. I did manage to get my breakfast served to me before everyone clustered around the table to talk about (supposedly) Very Important Things. I am still having a hard time getting the Staff to understand that they should be in their assigned places, and I did yell at them for a bit. This time I decided to join the Staff Meeting, so I walked across the shiny floor and hopped up on the table.

Hopping up on the table was A Smart Thing to Do, because everyone was within petting distance.

The Staff Meeting thing will be okay, I think. I received a massive amount of food for my patience, and as long as they keep that up, I will continue to let them Meet on Monday mornings. I think Becki brought in enough special yummy food to last me Forever. Purrs, Becki!


My Monday wasn't ruined until one of the Assistant Assistant Bosses came back from lunch. She came Upstairs with a Purple Collar with a Jingle Bell attached. She came in my office, where I was enjoying an afternoon nap, and presented the contraption for me to sniff at. I sniffed it and told her I did not like it. (I knew it was a Collar, even though she acted like it was a toy.) So what does she do? Does she say, "Oh, I'm sorry Tober. Let me get this thing out of your sight. We'll throw it away." NO. She puts it on my neck! She tells me I'm handsome! (As if I don't already know this.) I got up, and it jingled!

I ran through the Library, and it jingled! I ran under Linda White's desk, and it jingled after me! I ran under Linda Porter's desk, and it followed me there, too! I ran back to my office. . . still jingling! Finally the Assistant Assistant Boss scooped me up--but not to comfort me and remove the awful thing. No! She was giggling, and she showed me to other people, and they giggled too!

Here I am under a desk being The Unhappiest Cat in the World:


In case you haven't guessed it, the Awful Person who did this to me was Christine. Watch out for that one.

Karen hugged me and told me how grumpy I looked (she used the term "vet ears" to describe the laid-back position of my ears), but she was laughing too. She showed me to some Nice Library Customers, who I thought might take sympathy on me. You know what they did? They called me Pretty.

I wasn't Pretty, I was Mad! I'm a Boy-Cat, for crying out loud!

I was so Mad that I protested by sitting in my Toilet Box. And that Awful Person Christine took pictures of me, while everyone else stood around saying "Poor Tober" and laughing at me!


I was worried for a long time. The Library Staff people kept trying to reason with me, telling me I looked handsome (not pretty), and that they already jingle (keys), so I should jingle too. I said, "No. This thing is Stupid, and I am Mad, so take it off of me Please!" Christine and Linda said they would not take it off, and so did Karen.

Linda tried to hug and comfort me, and I wouldn't have it.

Here's the thing. As my second-in-command, my Assistant Boss Karen is very receptive to my needs. We share an office. She took me back to the office and had to look at me, and she could plainly see the misery on my scrunched-up face. She tried giving me Treats (didn't want any) and pettings (didn't want any of those, either). I was determined to Never Move Again. I would go on a Hunger Strike, and get skinny, and never purr, or meow, or go anywhere ever again.

Karen finally broke down and took off the Stupid Collar. (I knew she would.) I told her we should fire Christine, too, but apparently Christine does do some kind of work at the Library (other than find new ways to torment me).

This was my second (and hopefully last) encounter with a Collar.

Free at last,

Tober

Staff Meetings.

Mondays are usually my most favorite day of the week. Although Assistant Boss Karen comes to visit me and cuddles me during the day, Sunday is always kind of lonely around here. Monday is exciting, because all of my people are back, and they make a big fuss over me. I get extra treats, I help do set-up in the morning, and extra-special (and much deserved) attention is lavished on me.

Well, this Monday was different. Apparently, there was a Staff Meeting. I did not authorize an 8:30 a.m. Staff Meeting. All of my people showed up to work early, which I thought was fabulous, until I realized that they did not come early to see me. Everyone crowded around a big table on the wood floors (which I do not like to walk on) and had a big talk. I have decided that I don't like Staff Meetings. When the staff members come in to work, they each have an assigned place where they are supposed to be. This makes them easy to find. When they clump together like that, it makes me nervous. It starts my day off wrong. In fact, since this occurred on a Monday, it started my week off wrong.

I tried to remind them that it was Monday, that they were in the wrong places, and that I was in dire need of attention, by standing on the carpet and yelling at them. The only one who cared enough to come to me was Assistant Boss Karen, and she made the mistake of assuming that I wanted to join the Meeting. She scooped me up and carried me to the table, and I promptly ran back to carpeted area and began yelling again.

I think if the Library employees have something very important to talk about, they can use the phone things (with the tasty cords) that sit on their desks. These seem to work reasonably well when they need to talk to people in other buildings, so why not use them for Staff Meetings? In this way, they can be in their assigned places when I need them. I need Karen to stay in her assigned place so that she can easily reach the Treat Drawer when I get the hungries. I need Bonnie to stay in her assigned place because she offers comforting words when one of the Mean Ones is forcing Medicine down my throat. Cathie needs to stay in her assigned place because she is Very Nice and fills my food dish. (She even warms it a bit when it's cold, and this makes her an A+ Person in my book!)

I am not a fan of Staff Meetings, but I later found out that it was a Very Important talk that they were having. On March 9, our Library will be using a new system called Evergreen Indiana. This is the system that helps the staff (and the customers) keep track of all of the books in the Library. Our customers will get new green cards beginning March 9, and there will be all sorts of neat things they can do with their online account. The people at the circulation desks have brochures that explain the changes that will take place when we get the new system. You should stop by the library and get a copy!

My foot is feeling like a normal foot now, but they keep giving me Medicine. I heard Karen and Christine saying that they had to give me ALL of the Medicine in the bottle. I wish I could dump the rest of it down the sink, but I don't have thumbs.

Fridays are now Popcorn Days at the Library. The nice American Legion Post #218 People are letting us use a popcorn popper, and we fire it up around 3:00 on Fridays! We are using the Youth Department Winter Reading Program, "Pop Open a Good Book," as an excuse to have yummy snacks on Friday afternoons.

Here I am sampling:


I love this place!

Tober