I should state for the record I watch Dexter, True Blood, Bones, How I Met Your Mother, Castle and a few other I can’t remember cuz Hulu hasn’t told me new episodes are up yet.

I DO work hard. I don’t always expect others to work as hard as me, but I expect everyone to put forth some effort. There are just too many who put forth none and disparage my work and that of others by saying its all well and good for Bobbi Newman to do that but *I* have a life.

I do what I can to make time to learn–I get up earlier than the rest of my family (as early as I physically can), and I watch just one hour of TV a week (Dexter or True Blood, whichever’s in season), if that–and I don’t read gossipy magazines/sites which I think were mentioned in your first post. But I do have a 40-hour position, an hour-long commute, and two children who need dinner, help with homework, someone to cheer for them at soccer games, their laundry done, etc., and a partner to try to make time for after we get the munchkins off to bed at 9:30pm (and before we turn back to our computers, all too often privileging them over our relationship–I know I’m guilty of that). That’s what eats up a lot of my time, not TV watching (or similar passive hobbies). I’d most often *rather* be doing library-related learning than some of these other things, to be honest, but the choice to give them up in favor for time to learn is a little more complicated than the choice to give up television. Neither of your posts really rubbed me the wrong way, but I can see how the reiteration of the “give up TV” theme might some folks. Yes, there are people for whom it really would be that simple to create more time to learn–but there are also plenty of non-TV-watching folks for whom it would not.

So to those who think they don’t have time remind them they have the choice to change that (no they can’t get more hours but they can replace one thing for another).

It’s their choice.

I think though, that it was a good affirmation for you and others that we shouldn’t let people like that drag us down or frustrate us too much. You do stay positive, but that is not always an easy thing to do. I know other librarians struggle with this same problem as well.

There are resources for dealing with difficult patrons. There needs to be a resource for dealing with difficult colleagues…