Tomorrow is July 1 - the new fiscal year.
On June 30, three years ago, I was laid off from my job at CMRLS. It was sad and scary, but I tried to look at the situation not as an end, but as a beginning. I've been a librarian my entire adult life. My first full time job was as a library assistant. I was 20 years old.
While I've made some attempts at career changes (traveling sales representative for a publishing company; fitness instructor; administrative assistant for a small consulting firm), all three times I ended up back in the library field. Since I had (and still have) a few productive years left, I figured the layoff would be a good opportunity to finally make that leap.
Fast forward to today. The career change has not happened; I'm still a librarian, and a happy one at that. While it would be nice to have the security of one full-time job with benefits, I can't complain. I have several jobs that I like. My hours are flexible; I can often work at home, although I usually work on site; there's lots of variety even though the jobs are strongly related; I'm learning a lot and meeting some really interesting people.
I am looking forward to looking back on this post on June 30, 2014 to see what has or has not changed. Stay tuned.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Timesheets and Invoices
In order to get paid for all of my various and sundry jobs, I need to submit timesheets and invoices.
Springfield City Library gets a weekly timesheet and I'm paid weekly.
The Massachusetts Library System gets a timesheet every two weeks and I'm paid the following Thursday.
I submit a timesheet weekly to the Donohue Group, but I receive a check every 2 weeks.
There's no timesheet for Simmons College. I sign a contract at the beginning of the academic year and they trust me enough to deposit money every month in my checking account.
When I give a Continuing Education workshop, I need to submit an invoice in order to be paid.
Even jobs for which I don't get paid need timesheets. RSVP, the coordinator of the Senior exercise class, wants to know how many hours I spend leading the class. The Hatfield Senior Center also wants to know those hours, so they can include them in their annual report to the town.
I'm hardly the only one volunteering at the Hatfield Senior Center. There's an assistant who is paid for a few hours each week, but works many more hours which are included in the volunteer report. Then there are the people who help serve meals, deliver meals, distribute monthly "brown bags" (supplementary food for income-eligible seniors), and far more activities than I even know about.
For those people who volunteer a certain number of hours during the year, RSVP holds a grand volunteer appreciation lunch held at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. I've been to many recognition lunches and dinners, and I can say that this one is the BEST. The food is excellent and there are a ton of door prizes as well as fun and interesting people to talk with.
The Hatfield Senior Center also has its own recognition event with food and gifts. Among other things, I received a screwdriver - but not just any screwdriver. This one has a handle that looks like a small, rectangular box that opens, revealing several magnetic screwdriver heads. Each one fits into either end of the handle. It's cute and it works really well. I've used it several times. It's now my favorite tool.
So who needs to get paid dollars for everything?
Springfield City Library gets a weekly timesheet and I'm paid weekly.
The Massachusetts Library System gets a timesheet every two weeks and I'm paid the following Thursday.
I submit a timesheet weekly to the Donohue Group, but I receive a check every 2 weeks.
There's no timesheet for Simmons College. I sign a contract at the beginning of the academic year and they trust me enough to deposit money every month in my checking account.
When I give a Continuing Education workshop, I need to submit an invoice in order to be paid.
Even jobs for which I don't get paid need timesheets. RSVP, the coordinator of the Senior exercise class, wants to know how many hours I spend leading the class. The Hatfield Senior Center also wants to know those hours, so they can include them in their annual report to the town.
I'm hardly the only one volunteering at the Hatfield Senior Center. There's an assistant who is paid for a few hours each week, but works many more hours which are included in the volunteer report. Then there are the people who help serve meals, deliver meals, distribute monthly "brown bags" (supplementary food for income-eligible seniors), and far more activities than I even know about.
For those people who volunteer a certain number of hours during the year, RSVP holds a grand volunteer appreciation lunch held at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. I've been to many recognition lunches and dinners, and I can say that this one is the BEST. The food is excellent and there are a ton of door prizes as well as fun and interesting people to talk with.
The Hatfield Senior Center also has its own recognition event with food and gifts. Among other things, I received a screwdriver - but not just any screwdriver. This one has a handle that looks like a small, rectangular box that opens, revealing several magnetic screwdriver heads. Each one fits into either end of the handle. It's cute and it works really well. I've used it several times. It's now my favorite tool.
So who needs to get paid dollars for everything?
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