In order to graduate from high school, I was required to complete an internship of at least twenty hours. In order to fulfill this objective, I volunteered at the Check-In Room in the Alameda Free Library from the twenty-eighth day of October 2016 until the eighth day of March 2017.
Every Sunday afternoon, from three o’clock to five o’clock, I had to walk all the way to the Alameda Free Library from my house to take books out of the return bins, wait for a staff member to check the books in, and place each book on the proper shelf according to the sticker on the spine. Sometimes, I would be ordered to put books on carts and organize them by the last name of the author. Once, I suggested a book for the Martin Luther King Day display. That book was about race and why racism is stupid, which worked because Martin Luther King is best known for fighting against racism.
The main skill I practiced was organization. There was a shelf or a box for every kind of sticker. For example, one shelf was reserved for mystery books, and a whole set of shelves contained books that were aimed at children. (Speaking of shelves, the Check-in Room really needs another one for “Teen” books.) Communication and following instructions were also important. Some stickers were a bit confusing, so I had to ask where certain books were supposed to go. There were many rules that I had to follow, such as “do not sit on the carts” and “volunteers are not allowed to actually check books in”.
The main obstacle I faced during my thirty-four total hours was an extreme lack of motivation. I found my job to be very boring and tedious, and I did not enjoy having to walk all the way to the library and all the way back to my house. There were more than a few days where I really did not want to go. I am very glad that I do not have to go anymore.
This internship was a lot more boring than I expected it to be. The first day was lots of fun because we had access to Chewy Chips Ahoy and we got to look at pictures and videos on the Internet. Unfortunately, Sundays were more than a little different. There were multiple days without any snacks, and the supervisor was a strict, no nonsense kind of woman. Thankfully, it is over at last, and now I can finally enjoy my Sundays again.