Burnout

I had an interesting exchange yesterday with my boss Cathay Crosby and the Senior Volunteer who is answering rjdp questions (questions that would ordinarily have to be rejected because their due date is too soon or has passed) during my Senior Ref Admin shift yesterday.

I told hir that sie could claim as many questions as sie wanted to before 10PM, and have up to the "stautory" 24 hours to work on them. (I am using gender-neutral pronouns here to mask the person I am talking about—by convention, one doesn't mention IPL people by name in writing about the IPL, a convention that I violate all too freely with respect to Cathay. Oh well.)

But then Cathay emailed back to me and hir. I usually copy Cathay on my "bureaucratic" IPL email—she's a good check that I'm remembering how it all works. And she has an excellent "feel" for the stuff that's not covered by the rules—as you will see.

She wrote that the Senior Volunteer should only take what sie could answer comfortably during hir shift. Then she wrote "No burning out! The least amount of stress the better!"

This is something that, while my practice as a Ref Admin reflects, I tend to lose sight of. I mean, I'll reject a question because it's over quota or rjdp a question (if there's no rjdp person working) in a heartbeat if I'm busy or if a question is going to require a significant time commitment. Yet I still need to keep in mind—as do we all—that burnout is all too easy to have happen—and all too easy to avoid.

Wise words from Cathay, indeed.

P.S. Sorry about all the jargon, but it should have all been explained here. If not, post a comment or ask a question, and I'll 'splain.