Adieu, Payor Pal

At the Library's final full staff meeting of the year, we said a tearful farewell to our business manager, Payor Pal, who will be leaving for new adventures in the big city.

Those of us blessed to have worked with Payor Pal cannot capture in mere words how important--how completely fundamental--she has been in the long-range success of our institution.  She has been business manager here for nearly a decade.  Working with Boss Lady and her development team, Payor Pal was a key player in the coordination of the Library's huge (nearly) six million dollar building expansion project in 2005-2006.  So she can efficiently handle the big money business.

But Payor Pal also dealt with daily financial needs at the Library, ensuring that staff, as well as invoices, were timely paid (a huge priority, let me assure you).   If you have never performed business management functions at a major non-profit, public endeavor like ours, you might not fully appreciate the breadth and scope of the job.  There are endless tax issues, accounting procedures, collection concerns, commercial transactions, funding crises, investment portfolio duties, and much, much more.  Payor Pay has performed all these, and far more, in truly exemplary fashion.

But she didn't stop there.  She also managed our vending machines, purchasing and stocking tasty treats.  Plus, she taught computer courses at the Library for our patrons.  That's going an extra mile, and then some, I'd wager.

Boss Lady made a touching tribute to Payor Pal as an MS-PowerPoint slideshow, which I might be able to share with you if Scowl-Face gets permission to upload it to our 4shared.com account.  Meanwhile, here's a photo from today's staff meeting (taken by our facilities manager, Get-'Er-Done Dude):

MPL Staff, 12/6/2011

(Boss Lady & Payor Pal are in front)

(a few staffers were absent)

What will I miss most about Payor Pal?  Well, she did stock those delicious feline treats for moi, following my helpful suggestion.  But, mostly, I'll miss her daily smiles, her happy work ethic, and how she made the Library a smooth operating, truly enjoyable place to work and play (same thing, really, around here).

Adieu, Payor Pal; We Miss You Already,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Staff News Beat

P.S.  James Taylor and Carole King performed "You've Got a Friend" as a duet (well, trio, with the bass player) on this video.  The song was written by King and was included on her LP Tapestry (1971).  Taylor released a cover version, which became a big hit, the same year on his album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1971).