I think the fish tossing thing was what put me over the edge…

I am pretty definitely an introvert, but I think I was a good manager. My successor, whom we all thought would do really well as a manager, is pretty much failing a year into the job. She is probably an extrovert but is having power and people problems.

I’ve always pushed against being boxed into a type. Many people thought I should be a cataloger, and there were aspects of that job that I liked. But I chose Reference and loved it for quite a few years, basically until the attitudes and demands of “patrons” changed. I added managing Tech Services & Cataloging, and so got the best of both worlds.

All of which means that people are complex individuals, not pegs to be slotted into round or square holes. What happens to the rectangles and triangles and octagons among us? Or, god help us, the tetrahedrons?

And as a student of human nature, I also find it kind of interesting to hear the people who protest so vigorously against stereotypes. They really aren’t arguing against the brain’s habit of making categories, but against how people behave because of stereotypes. Even if no one gave you a label, your brain would make one up eventually. Wishing there were no such things as stereotypes is impossible. Wishing people would stop, think, act rationally, and open up their hearts and minds to the incredible and beautiful variety of life is a life’s work.

I always figured you have a bit of introvert in you. I can’t see an extrovert going off alone to the batting cages to work off stress.

You’re right about the management gurus. They are a blight. Maybe we could get for funding from the government to study ways to control, if not to completely eradicate them?