So to me, a library job sounded perfect. My junior year of college I applied for a position and found myself working seven to midnight, Monday through Thursday, with weekends off. Because I was the new guy on the shift, I got assigned to returns.
All books that came into the library were sorted and stacked onto carts, spine up and sorted by floor. Once a cart was full, I dragged it to the elevator and began the arduous task of putting the books back in their proper places. With five stories of stacks, one cart could take most of the night to empty, and any books left lying around the study carrels were to be re-shelved, too. As I pushed along my first cart of heavy hardcover books, I told myself returns weren’t all that bad. Some people just hated busy work.
The noise filled the quiet l
