A version of "Who's On First"?

I found a stack of shelves in the library and decided to gain more space, I would add an extra shelf into each book case; there was enough space to do that and one thing a library usually needs about as badly as more money is more room.

So last week I had a student assigned to me for half days for a week since his work study/ job training boss was on vacation. This kid started shifting the books for me to make room for the extra shelf.

With the rhythm we had going, he would just pull an empty shelf from the book case next to him. When he finally go to the point where he had to use a shelf from the stack, I hear the dreaded words, "Miz O'Sullivan, we have a problem."

Oh crap. Words no one likes to hear.

Apparently, the shelves in storage don't fit. They're were 3 inches too wide. I am not kidding. The kid had moved books on 5 shelves, about 1000 or more books, and now we had a huge 3 foot gap with no shelves.

So......... I took books off a display bookcase and used those since they fit. Now the display bookcase has no shelves in it.

I then called our maintenance department and ordered 5 new shelves and filled out a work order. The secretary in that department said it would take 5-6 weeks to built. Around that time my principal came in the library and wanted to know where the shelves were. I said it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission and he laughed. I said I was taking care of it and he said no problem.

It all sounds like it was taken care of, right?

A few hours later my principal comes in and the conversation goes something like this:

him: I think it's time to ask for that forgiveness.
me: ok. But..... uh, how come?
him: you want to spend about $3000.
me: I do?
him: where are you going to put 5 shelves? why do you need 5 shelves?
me: [I gesture to the bookcase which happens to be next to a large empty wall] Over there.
him: well, why five?
me: because that's what's going to fill the space. Why would that cost so much?
him: because of all the matierlas and time involved.
me: I think if someone gave me wood and a saw, I could do that in a weekend.
him: well, I think it's unnecessary.
me: so, you want me to leave it empty?

Now the blank look comes on his face. I asked him, "okay, wait a minute. What are you talking about?" He really wasn't sure.

Apparently, to save you all from the rest of this debacle, the secretary in maintenance thought I wanted 5 BOOKCASES not just 5 shelves, the plain old planks. So she told that to Principal.

When he found out I just wanted 5 replacement shelves, he was fine with that. And glad I wasn't trying to spend $3k.

It's still going to take 5-6 weeks, though...

Gee, I'm glad we got that settled.

Maggie