Side effects

Side effects of working at a public library information desk:

• You are tempted to approach a lost-looking person at your favorite store and ask if they need help finding something
• You have to repress (or sometimes fail to repress) an urge to shout "walk, please!" at children running by in malls
• You develop a particular look, pheremone, or other secret signal by which a certain type of person knows you are the best person to ask for directions when they are lost in a new neighborhood
• When a friend asks for your opinion on a book or movie, you tell them what it was like instead of whether you liked it
• You sometimes catch yourself glaring at loud teenagers or at people talking on their cell phones, even in places where they have a perfect right to do so
• Trained to look up from your computer and greet people approaching the desk, you find yourself making a lot of accidental friendly eye contact with strangers in your peripheral vision in coffee shops and restaurants