Time Warp

Going through my files from previous employment, and discovered I was a big baby, but yes, one particular boss was Psycho, and so was that workplace:

Note from the boss, three pieces of paper, all dated 4/29 (no year):

"To All:
Books piled in a stack do not make a display--looks lik [sic] a warehouse-if you don't know how to display -don't do it!
Mystery paperbacks -new- are a terrible mess--all mixed!"

"No note that Busines [sic] Journal missing --
Magazines not in alpha order."

"Where's the Bear from the baseball display?"

A police report dated 3/17/91 in which an employee lost $140 she had in her purse. It was in an envelope which fell out of her purse in the staff lounge. The director found the rest of it ($760) "disheveled" on the floor the next morning. My name is mentioned in the report, along with one other person, as having worked that day and potentially having access to the money. [May I add that it was a Sunday, so there's no way in HELL anyone had time to run into the staff room, rifle her purse on the chance that she might be stupid enough to carry $1000 in cash around, and then take only $140 of it.] Amusing aside: her purse was a "Louie Vonte" purse, according to the report. As if it matters, and as if cops care enough to spell it right.

Several staff members were sure from the get-go that it was drug money. There were no other problems with personal theft during the 6 years I worked at that library. There was a lot of money missing from the budget over the years but our wallets were never touched.

A card, nice stationery, in an envelope with just [Cat.] written on the outside (I found this on my desk one morning). The card reads:

"3-20-92
[Cat.],
Effective 3-7-92 your salary will be $11.50/hr.
You will have $4000 to spend until I let you know what the Boards [sic] plans are.
Please do not spend till next week when I will tell you new policies for purchasing (for control).
Thanks
[Psycho Boss]"

That was my annual review for the year. The budget year started in January. I was "out of money" by May 1. I had purchased less than $1000 worth of materials, according to my records, using the list price for my total, NOT the discounted price.

My favorite, favorite note:

"You guys are winning but I still have a little fight left"

This was left on the schedule board behind circ one morning with no explanation or comment thereafter. I made a copy by hand, and left it up for the rest of the staff to see. It mysteriously disappeared about 5 minutes before the library opened.

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Why did I pull all this up? Because my current boss--whom I like and respect a great deal--sent the whole staff an email that made me positively wonder, for a few seconds, if I'd gone back in time 15 years. The gist is that we have bottled water and other supplies that we keep from month to month for the Board meetings. When she arrived to set up for this month's meeting, everything was gone, including her "Do Not Touch" note. It was interesting that my original reaction when I read the email was very much still "Pscyho Boss"-based rather than "Normal Pissed-Off Boss"-based. I was trained well.