The first patron through the door is one of our board members, who has the a meeting room booked and wants to book one for next week as well. Our circ person doesn't know how to book a meeting room, and our security guard is new and hasn't turned his radio on for us to call him and ask him to unlock the one he already has. We're not really showing off our best work, here.
A man whose son broke his printer and who needs my help to print some pictures of tattoos calls me "Hon" like 10 times even though he's only 4 years older than I am. Also he lifts up his shirt to show me a tattoo. But he's basically polite and well-intentioned so I don't push back on any of that--if you learn anything in the public library, it is the importance of picking your battles.
Someone shouts all his sentences during a normal checkout transaction for some reason. He's not mad, just really, really loud.
Phone message: Can you tell me what hours Little Branch is open today, Saturday July 15th?
Phone call: Can you give me the number for the hotel or motel in the town of Kingwood, West Virginia? I'm pretty sure there is only the one.
I check out movies to a couple of patrons while my circ counterpart is helping someone else.
Page #1 reports that Page #2 hasn't shown up for her shift. Uh oh! Hopefully she is just confused, not hurt.
I teach Page #1 to hand out summer reading prizes, since she will be covering my lunch break later. Roles at this library have gotten pretty crazy since we went to a one-desk model.
Patron to clerk: "Your hair is sharp!"
Where's the bathroom? I thought you had one on this floor. Oh, for kids? Never mind, we'll go downstairs to the main one.
The question "Where is the Dewey number R 303?" morphs into "let me show you our online business databases!"
I thought I had put my first name and middle initial in to get on the computer, but my printouts aren't showing up under that name. Sorry!
She is printing out $24.75 worth of documents! Why oh why aren't you open on the weekend, Insta-Prints!?
Call from my counterpart upstairs: Have you talked to the woman who needs someone's phone number in Neighboring City? She is hard of hearing and she keeps hanging up on me! If she calls back, could you please give her the number of Neighboring City Library, because the person she needs isn't in any of the online directories and we don't have any of their paper phonebooks.
Mr. Timmons stops by to return some movies and to request Striptease with Burt Reynolds and Demi Moore. He is always telling me outlandish stories about celebrities he met because he used to be a bouncer or something at a big entertainment venue in Florida, and today it's how he took his mother-in-law to meet Burt Reynolds and she was sooo happy.
Business database guy comes back down and stops at the desk just to thank me.: "I learned a lot." Nice!
Someone was jumped and beaten up in the park across the street. He comes to use our phone to call the police and his mom (the latter so he can get her to buy him a bus ticket out of town). I also recognize him as the "I'm not an addict anymore; I'm on methadone" guy who has been kicked out of the library several times and owes us a hundred and twenty dollars. I can see him outside, hiding behind a tree and talking to a police officer, so he's getting help with this situation at least.
I spot a woman with a shirt that says "Any dog can be a guide dog if you don't care where you are going."
Hi, can you tell me where your restroom is?
When are they going to put out the Legos!?
Do you have any of the Adventures of Gumball books?
A patron talks to me for three minutes about how great the TV show "Ancient Aliens" is and how "it's all true."
The computer catalog says there is a copy of The Grapes of Wrath in storage. What does that mean?
Old white lady: I need a library card. I'm a refugee from Neighboring City. They don't have Value Line anymore.
Answer some summer reading questions for a nice family with three kids. Mom is wearing a hijab. After that, check out a big pile of books to them, including a few related to Islamic culture and one on Islamophobia. Makes me sad, but we have a nice conversation about picture books and the dad says to me "It's nice to see so many people using the library!"
Showing posts with label Mr. Timmons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mr. Timmons. Show all posts
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Monday, July 24, 2017
Patrons I will miss the most
For various reasons, I don't have as many personal relationships with patrons here in Michigan as I did at my original library in Texas, but there are still people who it will be kind of hard to say goodbye to when I move. Here are the top 5:
1. Mr. Timmons, who brings me candy every time I see him, and tells me 50% outlandish stories about his crazy former life in New Orleans, 50% about what his grandchildren are up to and how proud he is of them.
2. Jack, the elderly regular at Small Town Library who apparently shares my skepticism of religion, and also told a really moving story about his life in a storytelling program that I facilitated in the winter. He always has something friendly and/or funny to say to me whenever he comes in.
3. Janis. She can be trying to deal with sometimes, but she appreciates the library so much. If I'm having a day where I feel like my work is pointless, seeing her come in reminds me of how much the place I work enriches people's lives and makes me feel good about my job again.
4. The tiny man with the taped-together glasses who comes in every morning to read the newspaper and who I also see outside the nearby government building every Friday with anti-war, pro-tolerance protest signs. Not only do I share his political views and appreciate his unfailing politeness, it will just be weird not to greet him as the first act of my shift every week.
5. The lady in my book club who always listens to the books on audio, and who always says the opinions on the books we read that I want to say but am not supposed to since I'm just supposed to be the facilitator. She also said such a nice goodby and good luck to me when I told everyone I was moving away.
I thought I'd end this with a nice picture expressing the idea of the post, but I got really sad when I looked. If you are a fellow librarian, I recommend against Google Images searches for "library goodbye." Here's a hint of why:
1. Mr. Timmons, who brings me candy every time I see him, and tells me 50% outlandish stories about his crazy former life in New Orleans, 50% about what his grandchildren are up to and how proud he is of them.
2. Jack, the elderly regular at Small Town Library who apparently shares my skepticism of religion, and also told a really moving story about his life in a storytelling program that I facilitated in the winter. He always has something friendly and/or funny to say to me whenever he comes in.
3. Janis. She can be trying to deal with sometimes, but she appreciates the library so much. If I'm having a day where I feel like my work is pointless, seeing her come in reminds me of how much the place I work enriches people's lives and makes me feel good about my job again.
4. The tiny man with the taped-together glasses who comes in every morning to read the newspaper and who I also see outside the nearby government building every Friday with anti-war, pro-tolerance protest signs. Not only do I share his political views and appreciate his unfailing politeness, it will just be weird not to greet him as the first act of my shift every week.
5. The lady in my book club who always listens to the books on audio, and who always says the opinions on the books we read that I want to say but am not supposed to since I'm just supposed to be the facilitator. She also said such a nice goodby and good luck to me when I told everyone I was moving away.
I thought I'd end this with a nice picture expressing the idea of the post, but I got really sad when I looked. If you are a fellow librarian, I recommend against Google Images searches for "library goodbye." Here's a hint of why:
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| Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKiS2Hu73naGhExUmL4VsPnJ5N-ONlDTLAsNnfPgypWuvks7Fm9RRwHU1wetxh7LRhtMxyFTt9VcAs7nNKFgJKlc3mNzOzHXU52EmbRp8LTMUa4E88Y1EAhvSqgUSFVtG6oZd3KvVyaU/s1600/Goodbye+walls.jpg |
Friday, May 5, 2017
Friday reference questions
A man in an electric wheelchair was stuck waiting for his chair to recharge. I asked him if there was anything I could do for him and he said, "Could you maybe bring me something to read? Except I don't know what." Then he spotted the picture books in the children's section across the room. He wasn't going to be waiting long so he said, "Could you bring me one of those kid's books? What do you recommend?" So now he is over by the plug reading The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle.
A different man is really mad that he left his umbrella in the library and how he can't find it. Security tape shows that actually he didn't have it when he entered the library. Helpful information, but awkward.
I offer to help a couple in the Fiction section find what they are looking for, but it turns out they have a whole book devoted to lists of books they want to read. The wife knows how to use the catalog and she looks up the call numbers and adds them to each entry. Then she crosses them off after she checks them out. How cool!
Mr. Timmons stops by, says "My homegirl Emma!" and gives me a lollipop. I give him a fistbump and (after he is gone of course) guiltily throw the lollipop away.
A patron complains that he has hundred dollar bills and no stores will take them. We'll take them! But un/fortunately he has no fines. He does give his daughter a dollar to print some things out, though.
I help a patron with the self-check machine and then neither of us can find her library card for like 5 minutes. It turns out it's... right on the pad where you are supposed to scan it, disguised as the dummy library card that is supposed to show you where to put your card and how to orient it. Not my best work.
Help a patron print. I have it down to, I kid you not, a word for word spiel. In case your library has Envisionware (Are you at a U.S. public library? If so the odds are extremely good.) and you want to use it, it goes: "So now we are going to go over to the print release station, which is the computer right next to the printer over there. You can actually do a couple of things from this computer, so the first thing you want to do is tell it that you want to release a print job. Now go ahead and enter your library card number. That's how it tells which printouts are yours. If you want to print everything just hit this "select all" button right here. It will tell you your total cost up in the right hand corner here. Okay, go ahead and put your money in the machine. It takes coins, ones, and fives and it does make change. Now all you need to do is hit the 'print' button up here on the left and here are your print jobs. If you're printing something private, just make sure you hit this 'exit' button when you are done so no one could print another copy of your documents." Self service, my left foot!
A man turns in his DVDs to me.
A woman wants to get on the computer but has too many fines. She's looking for a job so I put her on one of our guest PCs with more than the allotted 20 minutes.
Help with wifi. Ugh.
A member of the IT staff comes to take a look at a weird thing my laptop has been doing lately, but of course when he's there it behaves perfectly normally.
We moved a couple of things post-renovation after finding that they weren't where patrons expected them to be or weren't where it was most convenient for patrons. For example, we had grouped all of our new items together, but that meant that new movies were on a completely different floor from all the rest of the movies, so we brought our new movies back near the main movie collection. Apparently people had just figured that out, because while last week I was constantly being asked near the main movies "where are the new movies?" now I am at the desk that's near the other new items and I'm constantly being asked "where did you move the new movies!?"
I help a sweet kid with the self-check machine, then put a book on hold for her to come back and check out later because she's reached her card limit.
Excuse me, it says I have a hold available but I can't find it on the shelf.
Do you have, like, a guide for all the summer activities?
A woman is mad because her trial-and-error approach to using the copier has been kind of expensive. If I could wave a magic wand and change anything about the library, it would be how often people wait until they are already angry before asking for help.
Can I pay my library bill by credit card over the phone?
Phone number lookup for a lovely lady who says "Always a pleasure to talk to our library"!
Today's Ms. Opp rant is about legal advice.
Why do people keep giving me things to check in?
I talk for 10 minutes by phone to a patron who is mad because her mom keeps checking out movies on her account so she's at her 10-movie limit. She insists her mom isn't borrowing the physical library card but that's the only possible explanation. My head hurts.
Can you help me find the customer service phone number for Delta Airlines? They charged me for my bag and I don't think they should have.
Mrs. Opp has reached her limit of 5 calls/day and is cut off. I really hope I won't have to be the one to tell her.
Someone wants to check out but can't because both cards she tries to use have too many fines on them.
I screw up 3 circ transactions in a row. Bingo!
Worst bingo ever.
A different man is really mad that he left his umbrella in the library and how he can't find it. Security tape shows that actually he didn't have it when he entered the library. Helpful information, but awkward.
I offer to help a couple in the Fiction section find what they are looking for, but it turns out they have a whole book devoted to lists of books they want to read. The wife knows how to use the catalog and she looks up the call numbers and adds them to each entry. Then she crosses them off after she checks them out. How cool!
Mr. Timmons stops by, says "My homegirl Emma!" and gives me a lollipop. I give him a fistbump and (after he is gone of course) guiltily throw the lollipop away.
A patron complains that he has hundred dollar bills and no stores will take them. We'll take them! But un/fortunately he has no fines. He does give his daughter a dollar to print some things out, though.
I help a patron with the self-check machine and then neither of us can find her library card for like 5 minutes. It turns out it's... right on the pad where you are supposed to scan it, disguised as the dummy library card that is supposed to show you where to put your card and how to orient it. Not my best work.
Help a patron print. I have it down to, I kid you not, a word for word spiel. In case your library has Envisionware (Are you at a U.S. public library? If so the odds are extremely good.) and you want to use it, it goes: "So now we are going to go over to the print release station, which is the computer right next to the printer over there. You can actually do a couple of things from this computer, so the first thing you want to do is tell it that you want to release a print job. Now go ahead and enter your library card number. That's how it tells which printouts are yours. If you want to print everything just hit this "select all" button right here. It will tell you your total cost up in the right hand corner here. Okay, go ahead and put your money in the machine. It takes coins, ones, and fives and it does make change. Now all you need to do is hit the 'print' button up here on the left and here are your print jobs. If you're printing something private, just make sure you hit this 'exit' button when you are done so no one could print another copy of your documents." Self service, my left foot!
A man turns in his DVDs to me.
A woman wants to get on the computer but has too many fines. She's looking for a job so I put her on one of our guest PCs with more than the allotted 20 minutes.
Help with wifi. Ugh.
A member of the IT staff comes to take a look at a weird thing my laptop has been doing lately, but of course when he's there it behaves perfectly normally.
We moved a couple of things post-renovation after finding that they weren't where patrons expected them to be or weren't where it was most convenient for patrons. For example, we had grouped all of our new items together, but that meant that new movies were on a completely different floor from all the rest of the movies, so we brought our new movies back near the main movie collection. Apparently people had just figured that out, because while last week I was constantly being asked near the main movies "where are the new movies?" now I am at the desk that's near the other new items and I'm constantly being asked "where did you move the new movies!?"
I help a sweet kid with the self-check machine, then put a book on hold for her to come back and check out later because she's reached her card limit.
Excuse me, it says I have a hold available but I can't find it on the shelf.
Do you have, like, a guide for all the summer activities?
A woman is mad because her trial-and-error approach to using the copier has been kind of expensive. If I could wave a magic wand and change anything about the library, it would be how often people wait until they are already angry before asking for help.
Can I pay my library bill by credit card over the phone?
Phone number lookup for a lovely lady who says "Always a pleasure to talk to our library"!
Today's Ms. Opp rant is about legal advice.
Why do people keep giving me things to check in?
I talk for 10 minutes by phone to a patron who is mad because her mom keeps checking out movies on her account so she's at her 10-movie limit. She insists her mom isn't borrowing the physical library card but that's the only possible explanation. My head hurts.
Can you help me find the customer service phone number for Delta Airlines? They charged me for my bag and I don't think they should have.
Mrs. Opp has reached her limit of 5 calls/day and is cut off. I really hope I won't have to be the one to tell her.
Someone wants to check out but can't because both cards she tries to use have too many fines on them.
I screw up 3 circ transactions in a row. Bingo!
Worst bingo ever.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Regulars
Ms. Opp called three times within the first 20 minutes of my first shift back at Downtown Library. I also saw Mr. Timmons the same day but he didn't bring me any candy. I must have taken him too much by surprise, or maybe Seamus the Boss of Security has cracked down on food in the library now that it's all nice and clean (someone already spilled beer on the new carpet, though).
The first question my husband asked me when I got home from my first day back at Downtown was "Was Janis there?" She was not. I might have to email one of my new friends from West Side Branch and make sure she is okay.
The first question my husband asked me when I got home from my first day back at Downtown was "Was Janis there?" She was not. I might have to email one of my new friends from West Side Branch and make sure she is okay.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Sunday shift
It's 55 degrees outside today in February and I am stuck inside on the Sunday shift. I'm struggling to be my normal sunny self with patrons.
Everyone is dressed up fancy since they've come from church, so that's nice at least.
Can you show us how to use the copier?
Do you have a Spanish-English dictionary? Thank you! What about CDs?
A man comes every day to read the day's newspaper, which we have to keep at the desk and hand out only if you give us something to hold for ransom because otherwise people steal it. Every day, when he returns the newspaper he jokingly says "Catch!" and pretends he is going to throw it to me instead of handing it back. Every day it is just as funny to him as it was the day before.
I don't have my library card. Can you look up my number?
A woman sets down a book and her library card silently on the desk and looks at me expectantly. Sorry, I can't check anything out at this desk. Not unless you want to set off our gate alarm, anyway, since I don't have a desensitizing pad.
A girl asks for several Blues Clues movies, and also Paranormal Activity 2. One of these things is not like the other...
A woman can't get on the computer because she's trying to use a friend's card number and the friend has too many fines. She can't use her own card because it also has too many fines. Of course this is our fault.
The woman whose statistics tutor I accidentally became wants to know: Can you help me figure out what a null hypothesis is?
Let's look in the index of your textbook, ma'am.
There's nowhere to plug your phone up at?
Do you have color paper that you can purchase? (People really think we are an office supply store. If you set up in the little shop for rent right next to us in the strip mall, you could make a killing.)
Do you have a scanner?
A man visiting from some southern state still hasn't figured out, after visiting three days in a row, which are the guest computers and which ones require a library card to use.
Show someone how to add page numbers to a Word document.
Polite kid: Excuse me, I was wondering where your comic books are.
Can I leave these bags here while I go to the restroom? (No.) Also, where is the restroom?
Mr. Timmons brings me candy *every day* now. I think I might have to tell him I'm on a diet. That's a total lie, but I know he doesn't have a lot of money and also most of the candy is pretty weird.
Do you have a pen? Never mind, I need a marker.
Can you help me? I accidentally clicked something and the menu went away on Microsoft Word.
Do you have Orange is the New Black, season 1?
Show two different people how to use what IT (presumably ironically) calls our "self service" print release station.
The 'closing in 15 minutes' announcement plays over the PA system. Thank goodness!
Everyone is dressed up fancy since they've come from church, so that's nice at least.
Can you show us how to use the copier?
Do you have a Spanish-English dictionary? Thank you! What about CDs?
A man comes every day to read the day's newspaper, which we have to keep at the desk and hand out only if you give us something to hold for ransom because otherwise people steal it. Every day, when he returns the newspaper he jokingly says "Catch!" and pretends he is going to throw it to me instead of handing it back. Every day it is just as funny to him as it was the day before.
I don't have my library card. Can you look up my number?
A woman sets down a book and her library card silently on the desk and looks at me expectantly. Sorry, I can't check anything out at this desk. Not unless you want to set off our gate alarm, anyway, since I don't have a desensitizing pad.
A girl asks for several Blues Clues movies, and also Paranormal Activity 2. One of these things is not like the other...
A woman can't get on the computer because she's trying to use a friend's card number and the friend has too many fines. She can't use her own card because it also has too many fines. Of course this is our fault.
The woman whose statistics tutor I accidentally became wants to know: Can you help me figure out what a null hypothesis is?
Let's look in the index of your textbook, ma'am.
There's nowhere to plug your phone up at?
Do you have color paper that you can purchase? (People really think we are an office supply store. If you set up in the little shop for rent right next to us in the strip mall, you could make a killing.)
Do you have a scanner?
A man visiting from some southern state still hasn't figured out, after visiting three days in a row, which are the guest computers and which ones require a library card to use.
Show someone how to add page numbers to a Word document.
Polite kid: Excuse me, I was wondering where your comic books are.
Can I leave these bags here while I go to the restroom? (No.) Also, where is the restroom?
Mr. Timmons brings me candy *every day* now. I think I might have to tell him I'm on a diet. That's a total lie, but I know he doesn't have a lot of money and also most of the candy is pretty weird.
Do you have a pen? Never mind, I need a marker.
Can you help me? I accidentally clicked something and the menu went away on Microsoft Word.
Do you have Orange is the New Black, season 1?
Show two different people how to use what IT (presumably ironically) calls our "self service" print release station.
The 'closing in 15 minutes' announcement plays over the PA system. Thank goodness!
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
West Side Continued
An old lady calls me "Honey," "Sweetie" and "Dear" all in one reference interaction. My colleague used to be a pastor and says that when she had that job she would correct people with "That's REVEREND Sweetie." I like her.
Our print release station says "Please enter your library card number OR first name" to release print jobs because we have two guest computers that allow you to log on with a name instead of a library card number. This morning I had to help three registered library users with their printing because they had entered their library card numbers at their PCs but entered their names at the print release station.
I smash at high speed into a patron. Yikes.
Everyone is trying to print W2s and tax forms. I hate this season (not as much as I hate Christmas, though, for the record!).
A man using the online catalog needs help with every single hold he places, but when we repeatedly offer to just place his holds for him, he refuses. I have to admire his perseverance, at least.
A man holds out a copy of "Independence Day: Resurgence" saying, "I need to know if this is number one or number two." I look it up and reply, "This is a sequel to the 1996 movie." Him: "So it's number two?"
A cutesy couple is talking baby talk at each other in the DVD section. I start to hate them but then the man comes up and asks to be on the waiting list for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." When his wife approaches he goes "Don't look! I'm getting a surprise for you!" They are redeemed.
A man approaches the desk, tells me he'd like to sign up for a gmail account, and waits expectantly.
Can I pay for you to copy this for me in color?
Mr. Timmons tells me a dirty joke (aA, bummer. We were having such a good streak!) and also wants to know on his grandson's behalf if the book Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties has come for them yet. It's not out until August of this year. Huh.
And I remove a copy of "American Rifleman" magazine that someone has 'donated' by putting it out on our magazine shelves.
Our print release station says "Please enter your library card number OR first name" to release print jobs because we have two guest computers that allow you to log on with a name instead of a library card number. This morning I had to help three registered library users with their printing because they had entered their library card numbers at their PCs but entered their names at the print release station.
I smash at high speed into a patron. Yikes.
Everyone is trying to print W2s and tax forms. I hate this season (not as much as I hate Christmas, though, for the record!).
A man using the online catalog needs help with every single hold he places, but when we repeatedly offer to just place his holds for him, he refuses. I have to admire his perseverance, at least.
A man holds out a copy of "Independence Day: Resurgence" saying, "I need to know if this is number one or number two." I look it up and reply, "This is a sequel to the 1996 movie." Him: "So it's number two?"
A cutesy couple is talking baby talk at each other in the DVD section. I start to hate them but then the man comes up and asks to be on the waiting list for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." When his wife approaches he goes "Don't look! I'm getting a surprise for you!" They are redeemed.
A man approaches the desk, tells me he'd like to sign up for a gmail account, and waits expectantly.
Can I pay for you to copy this for me in color?
Mr. Timmons tells me a dirty joke (aA, bummer. We were having such a good streak!) and also wants to know on his grandson's behalf if the book Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties has come for them yet. It's not out until August of this year. Huh.
And I remove a copy of "American Rifleman" magazine that someone has 'donated' by putting it out on our magazine shelves.
Saturday, January 7, 2017
It will help you
Highlights of my first #SaturdayLibrarian day at West Side Branch:
My friend who is a clerk at Downtown and was also sent here during the construction reports that Mr. Timmons told her to let him know if anyone down here was giving her trouble and he would take care of it.
Someone wants to read A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies just for his own edification.
Fist-bumped by a stranger whose friend I helped upload his resume to a job application--patron of the week!
Bodybuilder Lady waves happily to me! Our librarian-patron relationship started off on a very bad foot so I am still excited that we are friends now (I had to say, "I can't help you when you are raising your voice at me").
Help out circ for 15 minutes and don't screw anything up!
I help two young women find a memoir. I hand it to the one who asked me for it and she hands it to her friend and says "Read this. It will help you with your messed up life."
Overall...
My friend who is a clerk at Downtown and was also sent here during the construction reports that Mr. Timmons told her to let him know if anyone down here was giving her trouble and he would take care of it.
Someone wants to read A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies just for his own edification.
Fist-bumped by a stranger whose friend I helped upload his resume to a job application--patron of the week!
Bodybuilder Lady waves happily to me! Our librarian-patron relationship started off on a very bad foot so I am still excited that we are friends now (I had to say, "I can't help you when you are raising your voice at me").
Help out circ for 15 minutes and don't screw anything up!
I help two young women find a memoir. I hand it to the one who asked me for it and she hands it to her friend and says "Read this. It will help you with your messed up life."
Overall...
Friday, January 6, 2017
Visiting the West Side
Downtown Library closed for renovations on the first of the year and the powers that be have dispersed its staff, including me, to other branches in the system for the next couple of months while the construction workers and the movers work on the library. I was assigned to West Side Branch, along with Seamus from Security and a couple of pages and clerks. West Side Branch is one of the closest ones to Downtown and is on a lot of bus routes, so I have been seeing a lot of my old regulars here.
My first shift was earlier this week and I immediately spotted Janis, Giant Headphones Guy, Local University Regalia Guy, Online Class Gentleman, and even Mr. Timmons, who stopped by the desk to greet me, give me a lollipop (he brings his own candy), and tell me "Have you used the bathrooms here yet? Look out, it's like the toilet flushers have a kick!"
Seamus also stopped by to check in. He told me he'd helped Janis get set up on a computer and gave the verdict "This place seems a lot like Downtown. Mostly good but each with their own set of problem patrons. I'm already getting to know them."
Right now I am on the Youth desk watching a toddler contentedly chew on the rubber protector that holds one of our early literacy iPads. I'm glad that here, unlike at Downtown, it's going to be someone else's job to put those away at closing time.
My first shift was earlier this week and I immediately spotted Janis, Giant Headphones Guy, Local University Regalia Guy, Online Class Gentleman, and even Mr. Timmons, who stopped by the desk to greet me, give me a lollipop (he brings his own candy), and tell me "Have you used the bathrooms here yet? Look out, it's like the toilet flushers have a kick!"
Seamus also stopped by to check in. He told me he'd helped Janis get set up on a computer and gave the verdict "This place seems a lot like Downtown. Mostly good but each with their own set of problem patrons. I'm already getting to know them."
Right now I am on the Youth desk watching a toddler contentedly chew on the rubber protector that holds one of our early literacy iPads. I'm glad that here, unlike at Downtown, it's going to be someone else's job to put those away at closing time.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Commemoration
I wish we could name policies implemented because of individual patrons after those patrons, like how we put commemorative plates for library volunteers into books.
The Ms. Opp 'Three Phone Calls Per Day' Rule
The French Lady 'No Cursing People in the Library' Policy
The Mr. Timmons 'Five Hold Requests At A Time' Limit
The Tween Fan 'Library Staff Cannot be Facebook Friends with Patrons' Rule
The Magazine Requestor Guy 'A Portable Urinal is a Biohazard, No Exceptions' Policy
Or maybe they could ambiguously sponsor them, like how on Sesame Street things are "brought to you by the letter C"? Whether C intended to or not?
The Ms. Opp 'Three Phone Calls Per Day' Rule
The French Lady 'No Cursing People in the Library' Policy
The Mr. Timmons 'Five Hold Requests At A Time' Limit
The Tween Fan 'Library Staff Cannot be Facebook Friends with Patrons' Rule
The Magazine Requestor Guy 'A Portable Urinal is a Biohazard, No Exceptions' Policy
Or maybe they could ambiguously sponsor them, like how on Sesame Street things are "brought to you by the letter C"? Whether C intended to or not?
Friday, October 2, 2015
Bringing your own
Mr. Timmons, one of the regulars I like, brought me and my coworker suckers 'in thanks for your hard work.' He said, "They're from the bank. All the branches have them. Except the downtown one. There you have to bring you own candy. Which I usually do."
Friday, January 30, 2015
Jerry Springer
One of my favorite regulars, Mr. Timmons, stopped by the desk to tell us that the men's bathroom in the basement was flooding. "It's like a tsunami in there! I should have just gotten out my surfboard. You ladies take care now, have a calm afternoon...I don't even watch Jerry Springer; why would I when I am living it?" and he proceeded to tell us also about a big fight between two women at the bus station a block away--"it was so loud I'm surprised you didn't hear it up here." Apparently one shouted at the other, "You are only mad because I am f***ing your man!"
As Mr. Timmons said, we are kind of living Jerry Springer here at the Downtown Branch. This kind of drama happens so often that maybe I will give it its own tag...
As Mr. Timmons said, we are kind of living Jerry Springer here at the Downtown Branch. This kind of drama happens so often that maybe I will give it its own tag...
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