I am lucky enough to work at a fabulous anthropology museum - and even though I'm only in the gift shop, I still feel very privileged to be here at all.
This morning I had a case of grumpiness as I opened up shop, and proceeded to make a list of all my pet peeves about the museum. And then because this seemed like not such a great way to start my weekend, I made an even longer list of things I love about working in the museum to remind myself how great it actually is. :)
Here are my lists of Pet Peeves and Loves about the museum.
Pet Peeves:
1 Guests who go through the museum galleries in the wrong order.
2 Docents who don't tell the guests what the correct order is.
3 Docents who tell guests to start with the last gallery and move backwards through the museum.
4 Guests who spend 15 minutes in the entire museum and think they've seen everything.
5 Guests who spend 3 hours in the museum and have to be told that it's closing time. Twice.
6 Docents who don't tell guests that the cases are alarmed.
7 Docents who don't mention that flash photography is not allowed.
8 School groups that don't adhere to the 'five students AND a teacher in the gift shop at a time' rule.
9 Guests who come into the gift shop 15 minutes before closing and REALLY take their time.
10 Docents who allow guests into the museum 15 minutes before closing without telling them when we close.
11 Guests who come into the gift shop, mess up my archaeology books, show me their Clovis tattoo, and proceed to treat me like I don't know anything about archaeology.
12 Guests who are about 30 years behind the times on politically correct terms.
13 Guests who make derogatory remarks about racial and ethnic groups.
14 Guests who complain about the museum displays without stopping to think the museum has next to no funding - it's a free museum, folks.
15 Guests who ask me what in heaven's name I'm going to do with an anthropology degree.
16 Guests who think the gift shop is the place to start in the museum.
17 Guests who insist upon bringing their own 'artifacts' in -which clearly aren't artifacts - and then begging to see the curator.
18 Students who traipse through, loudly complaining about how lame the exhibits are.
19 Battles between curators with different ideas about exhibits.
20 The creepy basement with the lights off.
21 The anthropology department and the anthropology museum wanting nothing to do with each other.
Museum Loves
1 Kindergarten classes who think every display is beautiful and interesting.
2 Elderly couples on a date.
3 Most tourists - especially the foreigners who are just as excited about Chaco as Americans are about Paris.
4 Little kids' reaction to the Neanderthal display and the interactive Touch Table.
5 Making pottery and rug displays in the store.
6 Meeting the artists who come to sell their work to the gift shop.
7 Listening to the classical music station all day.
8 Inside information on all the museum events and lectures.
9 Leftovers from the museum events. Lunch!
10 Hundreds of books to pick from and read when I'm tired of class assignments.
11 How quiet it usually is.
12 Hunting for expired cockroaches every morning before the guests arrive. (Weird, I know)
13 The Kwakwaka'wakw crest pole in the courtyard.
14 The story the security guard feeds to people about the crest pole coming from Africa.
15 The cicadas singing in the courtyard.
16 The Isleta family that comes every Wednesday and bakes bread in the horno.
17 The life-size recreation of the rock art panel from El Morro.
18 All the prehistoric pottery.
19 The Chaco Canyon excavation recreation.
21 The awesome janitor who wishes I spoke more Spanish and who I wish spoke more English. And vice versa.
22 Meeting the Dine weavers who helped make the Woven Stories exhibit.
23 The creepy basement with the lights on and other people around.
24 Men who come into the store and desperately want me to help them find something their wife would like. This includes modeling jewelry.
25 Couples going through the museum and you can tell which person actually wanted to come.
26 Knowing more about the anthropology museum than most students in the anthropology department.
27 Volunteering at rug auctions.
28 Knowing all the curators and directors by first name.
29 Picking the museum exhibit coordinator's brain about the types of lightbulbs and preservation techniques that are used in exhibits.
30 Watching new exhibits go up and seeing them before the public.
31 Being able to tell guests about nearby archaeological sites and other museums.
32 The sweet British lady who runs the university's journal press and knows when every single public Pueblo dance is being held.
33 Doing favors for the admin by taking extra books back to SAR press in Santa Fe.
34 Learning about the process of buying artwork directly from artists or through a middle man.
35 Going through the new shipment of Zuni fetishes.
36 The time a woman came in and said she had no pictures of her grandmother, but had seen her grandmother's name on our website, only to find out that the museum has several photographs of her. The woman now has pictures! :)
37 Kids begging their parents to buy them a bag of pretty tumbled stones.
38 The little boy who claimed the Neanderthal was actually a monster from an episode of Scooby Doo.
39 Hearing the curators plans for new exhibits.
40 Loving coming to work!
