Like that 's anything new.

My boss was gracious enough to give me a hundredth of a chance. Then today a woman in my neighborhood came up to me and thanked me for recommending to her a book that I liked.

I have not yet gotten my Masters in Library school, and my job is to shelve books. I am not qualified to answer questions about what books a patron should read. I have gotten in trouble for this before.

But I was not at work when I told this woman about this book. I was at a neighborhood meeting, and the woman is also affiliated with libraries. I thought we were just talking about books on a casual level. I was not "trying to do reference work."

My coworker overheard. It was quiet tonight.

I don't know if I should explain to the coworker that I wasn't at work when I mentioned this book. On top of all the other **** I pulled, it sounds like another flimsy excuse for my disrespectful behavior. This incident will probably get sent to my file about how I'm such a horrible problem of an employee, and there's nothing I can do about it.

On a related note, I'm wondering if I can get away with not telling my mom when I'm fired (and I have no illusions about turning a new leaf. Sooner or later I'll slip up, and -- bam -- fired.)

Maybe if I really panic about this here, I won't get in trouble again.