Emotions are hard

I stopped into the library to pick up some requests this morning, and saw the boss. I teased him that I kept checking the "new items" listing on the homepage, and there keeps not being anything listed for music. He said "It's coming- I just placed an order yesterday." I asked him where he was getting the CDs, and he said he's decided to go with a different vendor.

Because they offer "standing orders" and the place I always used, which was less expensive, did not.

The music collection was my pride and joy. I worked hard to track what I felt would go well at our small-town library, without ignoring the rest of the music world (because honestly? For local popularity, you would just buy all the country released, though less of the women artists than men. Then, be sure to get every "Now that's what I call music" that comes out, and some of the top pop and rock CDs- but not much of it). But the boss said he tried asking everyone on staff, and nobody was willing to step up and do the job. So it seems he's decided to just outsource it.

I already knew he had decided that we had been overstaffed, and he was not going to replace me when I left. But the real work I did? The part of my job I enjoyed the most? Not worth replacing that, even by having someone else on staff do it.

I had e-mailed links to previews of music releases coming this year, and asked specifically about some of them. He responded, wanting to know if I had release dates for them, and I explained that you could easily search the vendor's website and list them as preorders once they showed up there. Apparently that was just too much work. So from now on I'll just have to look for the CDs I want, and see if I can get them from other libraries, when ours doesn't have them.

But I still can't quite pin down the emotions involved. Other than loss. Is that an emotion?

Because I wasn't depressed enough

I read a week-old article in the paper about the governor's tax proposal for Ohio. He wants to cut income tax- and pay for it by placing sales tax on everything that isn't already taxed. Yep, every service and "economic activity" that takes place, even if it's business to business, will be taxed at 5%. You will no longer be able to count on a set fee for something like overdraft protection at your bank- it will also have sales tax on it, that will depend on the amount covered. Any service you use at the ATM will have to charge sales tax (the banks are not having fun trying to figure out how to program that, because it will also have local sales tax rates involved reflecting the location of the ATM). The realtors association figures it will add a good $600 in closing costs onto a $125,000 house sale. Hair salons will have to charge sales tax- and you know that will lower tips given. You won't just pay a per-hour, or a set fee for the legal advice you need, you'll pay sales tax on top of it. Ohio will become the only state to impose sales tax on intangibles such as trademarks, franchises and licenses. Automobile purchases will end up being taxed for the car and for the loan (and don't forget for the temporary license plate). Coin operated laundromats will have to figure out how they can collect the tax at all. Retailers and credit card companies are trying to figure out just how many times a card swipe would be taxed, since every step of the way would be liable.

It seems that the best estimates show that the incredibly unwieldy increased sales tax burden will easily obliterate any income tax reduction that families will see. But the governor says, Hey! We're lowing income tax! That will make us job-friendly! Me, I can't quite believe any business would voluntarily locate here with the new SALES TAX ON EVERYTHING!!1!!! going on.