Livid this afternoon.

For some weeks now there's been a large donation of journals (and some books) outside my office. 8 or 9 large boxes full. Mostly math or civil engineering stuff.

Simple task passed on to a junior member of staff (JMoS): check our holdings, set aside anything we don't have, the rest (probably the vast majority) can go for recycling. (Or more likely charitable giving to the third world.)

Today, the JMoS handed it back with lists of what we have and didn't have. Carefully marked with blue highlighter as to what we don't have. I check the first marked thing on the list - actually the first thing on the lists in any case. It's on the shelf. That's odd. I check another one; we have that too. I randomly check a couple of others from elsewere on the lists and get even more confused as to what's what.

Thinking maybe I'd misunderstood something I went back to the JMoS. He barely bats an eyelid before explaining, well, yes, the job had gone on over so many weeks that he may have started highlighting what we had and somewhere along the line switched to marking what we didn't have. No apology, no explanation of where the switch might be I'm left with lists that are so worthless I can't face even beginning to work out what the deal with them is.

Trying not to go incandescent I realize that the easiest thing is just to start from scratch. Drag the journals over to the shelves and in a bit under four hours have cranked through the whole lot. Tired now (and dusty), but it's done. Not in weeks or even days, but in four hours. I can see out the office again and am just left with wondering whether I should complain to his supervisor or let it go.

The biggest frustration is that he's one of the candidates I have to interview for a secondment post next week. Do I go to my boss and say I can't do this fairly any more? Be professional and just get on with it? Hopefully I'll have calmed down by next week.