Exhausted

I'm starting to wonder how I managed to survive the first 2 months in this job. I'm really taking strain at the moment! If I'm not doing the banking or getting change or fixing the float, I'm writing minutes for our meetings, or answering phonecalls or answering queries for accounts or giving books prices to demanding students... Whew.

Students are strange creatures. I know - I have been one. The majority of them are financially challenged. The first few days of the semester students stream in here looking for prices. By the end of the day I know the most popular titles' prices off by heart already. One surprised and seemingly impressed student asked me today (after I had given him 4 prices off the top of my head): "Do you know ALL the prices of ALL the books in the shop?!"

After students have enquired about the prices of the books they need, they trod off, contemplating whether to spend the money given to them by parents or bursaries on the "right things" (books) or the "wrong things" (junk food and booze). Some clearly need to soft soap their sponsors first. But inevitably, they have to come back (some complaining about how the books are more expensive than the course itself) to buy the books from us.

One good thing about students is that most of them do not want to be on campus after 15:00, giving us some well-deserved time to rest our tired legs...