Celebrate Yourself

When I was a kid, and I accomplished something that I could really be proud of, I felt like it was perfectly ok to outwardly celebrate that accomplishment. For almost any reason. Loud and proud. That's true for most kids, right? So if I was especially quick at tooling down the drive-way on my Big Wheel before cutting the breaks and wiping out, I would yell "Shazam!" to denote my pride in daring to go so fast. That's all it really took to pat myself on the back. "Shazam!" That was enough. Or if I was successful at crashing through the line in Red Rover, I would allow myself the pleasure of a little chicken-dance, to highlight the grace I had just shown to the world. Just for a few seconds. No one seemed to mind. Maybe it wasn't as articulate as "I celebrate myself..." as dear Walt wrote, but it served the same purpose. Maybe with a little hint of taunting-those-around-me-with-my-greatness mixed in, but hey, I was 8.

So as I sat at the reference desk yesterday, I thought about this and began to miss the social acceptability of this behavior. I mean, some adults get to do this at their jobs. Athletes and performers, mostly. Football players regularly dance around in the end zone, Tiger Woods does that fist-pulling-on-a-rip-cord motion when he does something great, actors get to take a bow. What about the rest of us? We all do some pretty cool things during the course of our job. At least I know librarians do. And man, I was itching to bring my inner 8-year-old out.

"Here is that batch of statistics you asked for, sir. It shows immigrant populations who entered the U.S. legally, broken down in an alphabetical list by country of origin." SHAZAM!

"Well, if your daughter really liked the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, she may also like Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson, which I happen to have right here." IN YOUR FACE, FOOL! IN YOUR FACE!

"That issue of Vanity Fair is checked out, but here is the exact article you wanted from one of our subscription databases. Would you like me to print it out for you?" SMELL THE TALENT, BOYEEE, SMELL IT!

"Derrida's writings on Foucault? Right this way, please." THAT'S RIGHT, UH-HUH, HAY-ELL YEAH. [insert pigeon-head Mick Jagger strut followed by the Roger Rabbit].

"Yes, I did just get the document that you thought you lost back on this computer." UH! UH! UH! [with pelvic thrusts here].

"Here's your book on the US Citizenship Test." [handed to patron after a Michael Jackson spin and a WOOO-HOOOO! SHAH-MONE!]

"Here's the tax form you asked for." [lick a finger and touch ass, saying "tssssss."]

See, once you start thinking about each kick-ass interaction you have with a patron this way, it's really hard to stop. That 8-year-old pride will rock your day. I say we start showing it. Anyone with me?

Kiss the rings, I'm out.
Librarian Girl