Crabby Saturday librarian

(Courtesy of https://64.media.tumblr.com/0dbcefc16a0f8f10751d77d898c80e6d/0419aef259754211-69/s1280x1920/a13381cae52a4f223b4cfaa5b7079fc3418e254a.jpg)

Sir, I'm going to need you to keep your shoes on in the library.

Me: I'm sorry sir, but if you are going to eat, I'm going to have to ask you to go down to our lobby area.

Patron, flinging his bagel into the trash can forcefully: Fine! Then I'll just throw it away!

Me [in my head]: No one asked you to do that, sir.

For the rest of my shift, every time I pass near this patron he tries to set me on fire with his eyes.

SIR, you need to keep your shoes on in the library.

A patron gives me a five-minute rant about our public computers but repeatedly declines to fill out a comment card to make the complaint official, even though they are anonymous.

I gesture at a patron on a Zoom call in a study room to please lower his voice. He rolls his eyes and then says to the people on the call, in a voice 1% quieter than before, "I've just been told to keep my voice down."

This branch has two kinds of chairs, wooden ones and ill-advised cloth armchairs that you'd have to pay me $100 to sit on. Someone has taken several plastic bags and arranged them carefully over one so that she can sit in it without making any direct contact with the fabric. I get the idea, but why not just sit in a wooden chair, ma'am?

Someone has taken apart all the different sections of BOTH our copies of the local newspaper and interfiled them seemingly randomly before piling them up on a table.

 

Me to patron watching a loud YouTube video on his phone: Hi sir, do you have a pair of headphones?

Patron: Yeah.

Me: ...

Patron: ...

Me: I'm going to have to ask you to either put them on or lower your volume.

Patron: What about that guy who's snoring?

Me: He is MUCH quieter than you, sir. If he causes a disruption, I'll shush him too.

 

Belated Saturday refgrunt

 The branch I’m currently assigned to work at one day per week is doing a big push to get some of their code of conduct issues under control before summer reading starts, so on today’s four-hour desk shift I am walking around every 15 minutes. Some of my staff hate this, but I’ve become totally used to it. It reminded me that not everyone is inured to arguing with patrons like I am. So if you’re thinking about getting a public library job and you haven’t worked in a public library before, don’t skip this accurate, but possibly very tedious, refgrunt.

Two BFFs who I see in the library all the time who are needy but polite: We wanted to plug our devices into the outlet by the table, but someone has stuffed paper into all three plugs! Can you help us?

On closer inspection, I think it’s toothpaste. Ugh.

 

Sorry, you can’t sit on the floor in the genealogy stacks to listen to your music. You’re blocking traffic.

 

Older patron in camo pants and a veteran baseball cap: Can you put two books on hold for me?

They are two books in a WWII series by a navy officer, very on brand for this genre of patron.

 

I walk the stacks in the Spanish section and refill the approximately 50% of display stands that are empty. Like half the staff at this branch speak Spanish. Why does no one ever seem to come in here except me?

 

I can hear some kind of noise coming from the main seating area, but I can’t tell what. I walk around until I spot a patron with a laptop that appears to be emitting pure static. I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but do you have something playing sound that’s not plugged into headphones?

Patron: You can hear that from all the way over at the desk!? I’d hate to have your hearing.

 

Check the bathrooms. Men’s is empty, women’s has a backpack sitting on the floor and someone in one of the stalls. Hopefully the backpack goes with the person. We’ll find out in half an hour during my next restroom check.

 

Walk past a young guy who furtively stuffs something crinkly into his sweatshirt pocket. I know the sound of a bag of chips crinkling when I hear it, sir.

 

Visit the quiet reading room and put away a few abandoned magazines.

 

Back to the desk. Reset the password on someone’s library account for them and debate whether the guy talking on his cell phone needs to be shushed. He’s not speaking in that loud a voice, he’s just sitting in an area with terrible acoustics.

 

I don’t actually shush the cell phone guy, I just make eye contact with him and he lowers his voice when he realizes he’s being observed.

 

Someone is snoring over in the main seating area, but stops by the time I get there.

 

As I am looking for romance books to put on display on the endcap, a man stops me: Excuse me, where would I find books about the Donner party? It was a dark chapter in history.

 

Ugh, I end up having to shush the phone guy after all. He takes it well, though.

 

Check the restrooms again. The backpack is gone. Phew.

 

Finally someone comes to check out a study room. It’s weird that this has taken more than an hour. Usually they are all taken by now.

 

We have a handful of tablets mounted to the end of aisles that are catalog access points. Over the last few months, slowly the batteries have been swelling in them one by one and killing them. Just found another one today. Bummer.

 

Call from the circ desk: Did a guy in a puffy brown vest just come in?...Did he have a dog with him?

Uh oh.

 

Mrs. Emma, do you have a pen I could borrow?

 

Teach a kid how to use the self-checkout machine.

 

I’m sorry, but can I ask you to please keep your shoes on in the library?

 

Check the bathrooms again. Women’s is fine, men’s smells terrible but is empty and there’s no visible cause of the smell.

 

Now all the study rooms are full and I have to turn someone away L

 

Wake up a patron who is snoring. He’s very surprised to find out he was asleep. I hope he didn’t miss his bus.

 

Can you please turn up the volume on the TV screen in our study room?

Yes, but not as loud as you want me to turn it up.

 

A patron stops me on my way back to the desk to ask “Excuse me, can you drink in here?” And then gives me a funny look when I say “As long as it’s not alcohol, sure.” From his demeanor I thought he was about to complain about another patron, but I guess I read that one wrong.

 

Flirty patron (that’s been a while, ugh): Do you have The Art of War?

 

Different patron: Do you have Como el Secreto Cambio mi Vida?

 

Third patron: There’s a historical fiction book. It’s called Uprising by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

It’s always funny to me when the patrons deliver their questions as statements.

 

Do you have an airpod charger?...Is there any way to buy one?

Grr

Things patrons have told me lately that have made me (at least briefly) angry:

• That I don't understand what Microsoft Silverlight is
• That I was "just making excuses" for the local history librarian's failure to immediately return a phone call
• That I'm racist
• That they don't understand how many copies of pornographic trash (i.e., the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy) the library has to buy with taxpayer money
• That the library should be open until 9 p.m. on Fridays because "some people have to work"
• That I let other patrons be too loud in the library
• That a picture book about gender identity isn't appropriate for children
• That, no matter what I may claim to the contrary, they were just speaking to me on the phone

More on the New Downtown

Not only did we not get gender-neutral restrooms, as I was really, really hoping would happen as a result of our renovation, for some mysterious reason the men's bathroom is now on the left while the women's is on the right, which was the opposite of what it was in December. I flinch at the drama that is sure to ensue.


The circulation department staff, with whom I now share a desk, are much more interested in monitoring the patrons' computers for pornography than I have ever been.


"I was told I could get a home heating tax form up here. Also, I just got on social security; do you know if there is another form I need?"


An adorable girl in the world's tiniest pea coat runs behind the reference desk while her dad and I are trying to figure out the name of a movie.


Man whose headphones are blaring "Don't Stop Believin' " would like to know where he is on the hold list for the movies Fences and Jackie.


Patrons are no more happy with how we divide our DVD collection now than they were pre-renovation. No, sorry, we don't have an "old movies section." No, sorry, we don't have a religious section.


In the new setup, the last row of computers is a little closer to the print release station than it used to be. This morning a man coughed while releasing his print job and the woman seated at the nearby computer snapped "Get away from me with your cough!" Of course no one could just let it go right away, so on his way out the cougher said "That's not very polite" in acid tones as he was passing, to which the computer user responded "I'm sick of people coming near me with their colds!"


New patron wants to know: If I print up there, does it just come out back here?


I have to shush two guys chatting in the newspaper area. On his way out, one of them shushes me in revenge. Being shushed by a patron is probably on my top ten list of work annoyances.


Janis has made it back in. She's still a little confused about which elevator buttons to push, but seems to be adjusting fine to the new layout.


A foot fetishist needs help with a website. The people in the pictures are clothed so I just try not to think about it and don't treat it as a porn issue.


"Do our library cards still work the same to get on the computers?"


Two different people need to be shown how to allow popups in Google Chrome, a process that requires six clicks, which I feel is three too many. Poorly designed websites are probably number one on the aforementioned top ten list.


"Excuse me, are you computer savvy? I want to print the pictures from an email, but when I click print it just wants to print the email. Can you help me?"

Shush, you!

Today a man was kind of agitated because his new employer was having him fill out his W4 form online and the instructions weren't very clear, so he came up the desk and described his problem to me and asked for help. When we went back to his computer, which was in the back row of our public PCs, far away from the desk, his girlfriend was waiting for him. The first thing she said was "You need to shush! I could hear you all the way from here!"


It's funny how I love it when loud people's friends/family members/caseworkers shush them at the library so that I don't have to, and yet when strangers do it, it never ends well.

Overslept refgrunt

Today I woke up exactly 30 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. I was not prepared for Jumpsuit Man to be my first patron this morning: "Do you have Teaching as a Subversive Act? No!? Seriously? That's a classic!" (We got it through interlibrary loan, and it's actually called Teaching as a Subversive Activity and it was first published in 1969.)


Regular who always comes in to read the newspaper: "Good morning, ladies!"


MUFON Man calls to see if I can help him pick out a computer for his friend's birthday. "Can you please go to w,w,w,dot,staples,dot,com?"


"Good morning, ladies!" regular: Yesterday I sent an email to the Trump campaign...I've been a supporter from the beginning, but lately they've been talking to me like I'm an idiot...I don't want to donate money online, because anytime you do anything online there are hackers trying to get into it...a money order is better...I told them they can kiss my ass. Can I say 'ass' on a library computer? It's in that book right over there...anyway, they wrote back and apologized and now they're all nice to me...I'm gonna write in Bernie anyway.


Janis: Hi Emma...Hi Emma!...I'll put my ice water on the floor.


Do you have any books on stencils? Clip art? What about those Indian things? Mendelas?


Janis: Can you help me find Big Brother and the Holding Company, full concert!?


Someone has been trying to log into Minecraft of one of the catalog computers.


Patron: Can you help me find books on building a garage or a pole barn?
Me: Sure. So you're looking at building a completely new building on your property, not redoing one that's already there?
Patron: Well, the bank's property, but yeah.


I need help with the printer.


MUFON Man: I was wondering if you could you help me with a number for the Post Office.


A woman hands me her ID.
Me: Hi, how can I help you?
Woman (glaring): ...sorry, I need a scanner. I forgot what I wanted for a minute. I thought you'd know because I always get it.


I lost my library card. What should I do?


Patron: Stupid question, but [shows me library card]: This is your library card, right?
Me: Yes. Are you having trouble getting on the computers?
Patron: Yes, it gives me an error message.
Me: Mind if I take a look at your account?...Oh, I'm afraid your card is expired. You don't have any fines or anything, so if you have an ID with you, it's a simple process to--
Patron: Let me guess. I have to go downstairs.


My explorer is not working.


Excuse me, I'm at a website that is telling me to fill out a form, but no form appears.


Can you show me where 921 is?


Bye, Emma! I'm leaving now. The bottom button on the elevator, right, Emma? Bye!


MUFON Man: Could you help me with the phone number for the Sprint store?


MUFON Man calls again: I'm sorry, I needed the one at the Westwood Town Mall. Thank you so much! I appreciate all your help. Also, could you help me with the number for Builder's Reclaimed Lumber Supplies?


Can you tell me why my card isn't working? I know I only have a two dollar fine!


Help someone with her timesheet system online.


Caller: I wanted to see if you had a book or could put me on hold for a book. It's called Prime.
Me: Is it by Poppy Brite?
Caller: No, she had an Indian name. Like from India.
Me: Hm...can you tell me anything else about the book?
Caller: Well, you know how they are saying now that everything is about your gut? You make your gut healthy and that will affect all parts of your body? She's a natural doctor and her book is about that.
Me: Might it be The Prime : prepare and repair your body for spontaneous weight loss by Kulreet Chaudhary?
Caller: yes, that's it! Thank you!


Patron: Do you have any books about wickham?
Me:  Let me see. Can you tell me any more about that?
Patron: You know, like white magic.
Me: Unfortunately, it looks like most of our books about Wicca are checked out. Would you like me to put in a request to have something sent over for you from another library?
Patron: No, I just want to see what you have here. How about this one? Do any of these look good?
Patron: I don't want anything about witches. They do good magic. They don't believe in warlocks and stuff.
Me: Well, this one you are interested in is a history of witches, so it looks like it will only cover Wicca right at the end.
Him: That's fine. I don't want to practice it, I just want to be able to talk to my coworkers about it.


Going over to shush a group of people who are yukking it up by the oversize books: "I think you know what I'm going to say to you."
The patrons look at me blankly.
Me: I'm glad you're having a good time in the library, but please keep it quiet.
No response. Then, as I am walking away, the man asks: "Is Trump a genius?"
Me: I'm not supposed to talk about politics at work.
The patrons all start laughing again, but at least they are doing it more quietly now.


Message from coworker: Just looked at the weather forecast. You might want to brush up on our tornado procedure.


Phone call: Can you go on Google or something and find out if there are any support groups for back pain in the area?


New phone call: I was watching the national news and they said there are credit cards where you can get six percent cash back on groceries and gas, but they didn't name them. They said a web address but it was too fast. Could you find that information for me?


Even newer phone call: I'd like the number for [local eldercare facility].


Um...what does it cost to print?


My password works and everything, but when I try to go to my email, there's a picture of someone else's face!


Do you think you could help me download a video?


Call: In your computer lab on the second floor...is there a computer with a scanner hooked up to it?


Call: Could I have the number for Stein Mart in Grand Rapids?


At 25 minutes until close: Hi. I need to print something?


And, here's Loud Background Noise Woman calling. Time to go!

Beatboxing in the library

Today a man was beatboxing so well that I almost asked him to "turn down his music" before realizing he was making it himself.

Downtown Friday

(Refill the paper trays of all the copiers and printers.)


Good morning, Janis! You're going to stay until 11:00 this morning? That's your sweater? That's nice.


First question of the morning is by phone. Do you have the number for Local Hotel?


(Print out copies of some 1930s library posters for an upcoming display.)


I'm looking for an article from [Local Paper] from 20-11. I talked to Local Paper and they said their archive only goes back to 2012 and to come to you.
Have you ever used a microfilm reader before?
(I get him set up and reading.)


Janis seems to know a lot of the library patrons. When she says a loud, repeated goodbye to a woman in a green shirt, the green-shirted woman responds in a friendly fashion, but also shushes her.


I have a question about these computers. Do they remember your passwords?


(Collect two books and put them on the Staff Picks display.)


MAC: mumble mumble intersection.
Me: Sorry, what was that first part?
MAC: Wendy's.
Me: Hm...I'm here on their website and I see the location, but there aren't any phone numbers listed. I'll have to check a different directory.
MAC: Well, any Wendy's, then!


(Create new labels for the non-English collections, which were previously labeled only in English. They now say French/Français, Spanish/español, etc. It only took me two years to make that happen...)


(Do my hourly sweep of the floor. The area by the 800s really smells like pee, but I can't figure out what the source is.)


Call from a smaller nearby library: Do you still carry the NADA car guides? I have a patron here who we can't help, but I'm hoping maybe you can.


Excuse me, where is your bathroom?


Can I get some singles? I got a lot of copy work to do.


Is this 2? Is this floor 2!?


I was copying and the copier just stopped!


(Take some books out of the catalog for Laura, one of the librarians.)


What floor is your bathroom?


Phone call from MUFON patron: Could you please go to a website for me? Habitat for humanity dot org? I need some information about an event called Bike to Build.


Man who I shush for talking too loudly on his phone: Sorry! I'm sorry!


Do you have a fax machine?


Can I use a computer?


I'm looking for a CD. Bachman Turner Overdrive greatest hits.


Can I use a computer?


Does the printer only take cash?


Would it be okay for me to post these flyers for an AmeriCorps position?


Do you guys still have a public copy machine? And a change machine?


I need to get on a computer for like 20 minutes...I don't have a library card. I've lived here for like 5 years but I still have my Indiana ID.


Can you please help me with the printer?


Do you have City of Sparks? You know, one of the Ember books? (It's actually People of Sparks, but yes, we do.)


Where should we go to get a library card?


10 minutes before closing: Um, this says I have a book checked out that I never checked out. (It never fails.)

Librarian/Flight Attendant

An unusually busy morning at Downtown Library. First a grateful and polite but very needy lady who has no computer confidence and needs to fill out a form, then one of my favorite ESL patrons, who says "I am so happy because everyone he is so helpful to me!", then an alarming call from a patron who wants the numbers for both www.shortdwarf.com and a local mental health helpline, then a call from Ms. Opp, who wants information about how to emigrate to Canada.


After that I go shush a woman who is talking too loudly on her cell phone. Actually, I don't even have to say anything, as soon as she sees me approach, she says to me "Oh, I'm sorry, honey, I'm too loud, aren't I?" and then says to her caller "Sorry, I gotta use my inside voice."


Patron who came up to the desk to ask a question, after I answered the question: Oh...also..is there a button I can press if I have a question, or do I have to come up here?
She wanted to know if she could press a button at her computer station indicating that she needed help, and the button would alert us and call us over, like a flight attendant call button. Sorry, that's, (say it with me now) not a service we provide!

Another level

Today, a patron called me over to complain...about the volume level of a different patron who was complaining to my coworker about the library computers. "I can't concentrate with her talking like that! Isn't this supposed to be a library!?" I really wanted to ask him if he thought she'd get quieter if I shushed her or asked her to calm down, but I refrained.

April Fools

Why play jokes when this is a regular day at your job?


A man who has a selfie of just him alone as the desktop background of his computer.


A man who argues with me that a print directory of Michigan nonprofit organizations "must exist" because there are so many of them. Then he answers his phone at the desk "I'm at the liberry. I didn't know if you were going to call me back."


People shouting in Arabic on the stairs.


Patron asks for government information we don't have. Coworker says, "It looks like they have those documents at the County Library down the street." Patron: "What!? This isn't County Library!? Then what is this place!?"

Over the walkie-talkie, we hear Barney the security guard say "I'm going to get a mini-skirt to match Bill's."


While I am using the public restroom, a voice form the next stall over says, "I am so sorry to bother you in this situation, but does the library sell tampons!? Anywhere!?" (I end up getting her one out of my purse.)


Are there stairs I can take up to the next floor, or do I have to take the elevator only?


Spot patron who cried when the printer's coin box spit our her ten dollar bills as quarters. She still makes me nervous.


You know those computer viruses that are popups that tell you your computer is infected and that you need to dial 1-800-555-SCAM for 'tech support' to fix it? One of those messages popped up on a patron's computer and I had to go interrupt her phone call with the scammers and convince her that they couldn't fix the computer and that she should hang up.


Someone has stolen Schedule B out of our book of reproducible tax forms.


Our oddest phone patron, Ms. Opp for short, calls, but she just wants to know--"Science Friday isn't on our local npr on Friday afternoons anymore! What happened to it?"


Excuse me, could you pleas help me find this book? The catalog said it was on the shelf but I couldn't see it.


On my way back from this, I hear a quiet howling. I have to interrupt a man who is listening to something on his phone with his headphones in. When I politely suggested that he might not have his headphones plugged in all the way, he just stared at me, so I said "I heard howling." "Oh, yeah, that's my ringtone." "Well, if you could silence it while you are in the library I would appreciate it."


The closing elevator doors don't automatically stop closing for a last minute passenger, but he forces his way into the elevator anyway as the doors try to squash him. The other man already waiting to descend looks awkwardly on.


Phone call from someone who wants the phone number for a local Mary Kay representative (what?). It's hard to talk to her because she keeps pressing buttons on the phone the whole time we're talking and it beeps and beeps.


"I'll just leave my backpack right here by your desk." No, you won't.


The 30 minutes warning comes on over the loudspeaker, announcing we close at 6 today. From the computer, I can hear someone go "Aww, man! I forgot it was Friday!"


Patron: Did you ever figure out why the library website won't open in Chrome?

Shh!

Man to young son: "Shh! You at the liberry!"

Curses

It's been an alarmingly exciting week here at My Home Library. Coworker: "Earlier today I had to ask a woman who was speaking French loudly in the children's section to keep her voice down. I just saw her at a computer with her jacket over her head. Turns on she was putting curses on people."


Fortunately, it turns out that we can fit voodoo under our Patron Code of Conduct Policy ('conduct likely to disturb other patrons or interfere with their use of the library').


Not to mention my own patrons this evening:


Where are the psychology books?
Is there a specific topic you're looking for?
Uh, you know, brains?


Phone call: Can you go to this website and try putting in my email address and password?


Receive permission from my boss to relocate a plant by the elevator. I've now seen not one, but two people in wheelchairs have to sort of crash through the foliage in order to hit the elevator button. I hope it does okay in its new home.


The library in a nearby city that is wealthier and more educated than ours is closed for remodeling. We've started seeing a lot of their patrons trying to use us as a substitute. One has a meltdown over our printing system (she's trying to print $30 worth of documents, and we're just not set up for that). A central theme of her rant is how things work at the Other City Library and how much better it is. She reminded me of Phoebe from The TV show The Magic School Bus: "At my old school..."

First world emergencies

Today I scolded a man who was listening to audio on his computer without headphones. Apparently he is from the local newspaper. Their offices are just across the street and their internet connection went down an hour before a big funeral procession for a local celebrity was due to pass through the area. He wanted me to make an exception because it was "kind of an emergency."

Tattos, typewriters, and leases, oh my!

I have somewhat poor directional hearing, so it's often hard for me to tell which patron's headphones the loud music playing at the computers is coming from. Fortunately, making an interrogatory ramble around the perimeter of the computer area solves the problem 50% of the time just by reminding people that someone is paying attention.


I didn't work this time but later Ben from Security did the same thing and was able to actually tell who the culprit was. He politely tapped the man on the shoulder and asked him to turn down his music, and the man politely agreed.


Other noteworthy things from the library this week:


A woman asked to use the typewriter. It was a big relief to send her to the first floor desk--I'm sometimes scheduled there but I have no clue how to use the typewriter, so I feel like I dodged a bullet.


I help a guy find a model residential lease and he asks me to tell him what they want in the blank of "For a term to commence ________, and to end any time with a 30 day notice..." I say I can't give legal advice, blah blah blah, but my (ahem) illegal advice is they just want the date the contract is signed. Later in the day I read the slides from a presentation called "Public Libraries and Access to Justice: What Public Librarians Can Do." Still nervous, though.


A woman who I placed some books on hold returns to the desk: "This is a weird question, but can I take a picture of the font on your water bottle? I'm getting a tattoo and I haven't found a font that I like yet, but I like that one." This is the only question I've ever had that begins with "This is a weird question" and is actually kind of weird by public library standards.

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

Pet peeve #124

Our staff area is not closed off from the rest of the library and today I had to go back there and shush the staff because their talking and laughing was disturbing patrons.

A first

A middle-aged guy as I am going over to shush him and the new friend he made a couple of computers over: I'm sorry, are we too loud?

Saturday before Thanksgiving

Everyone seems really wound up this weekend, especially the kids. I think it's because a break is coming up. Here's some various news and excitement from today's shift on the adult reference desk.

Dad of one of our clerks who is very slow and was at the computer class this morning: "Right now I'm at the pecking stage, but once I can type I'm gonna be unstoppable!"

A lady spends an hour on the public phone trying to cancel her cable service. We have to tell her twice to keep her voice down and eventually my rule-stickler colleague makes her end her call since the public phone is supposed to be for calls no more than three minutes. All her anger is concentrated at the cable company though so there is none to spare for us.

"My son has a science project about batteries. He's making something out of pennies. I'd like two references for that, please." Not how the library works exactly, lady...

A group needs my help SIX TIMES to print everything they want to print. A new record!

A regular hands me a videocassette that came off the Friends of the Library sales cart. "I found this in the bathroom" (lowering her voice to a whisper) "It was under the toilet!" Eew.

"I'm phobic about germs on your computers and I have an open cut, can I have a band-aid?"

Now the six times printing people are using the copier, which is our number one user-unfriendly machine! Nothing good can come of this.

Nice old couple wants the most recent Consumer Reports on washing machines. As he is looking through the index to figure out which isue it's in the old man says "We had a lady who worked at our home library, a smal town Carnegie library, in the children's section. Boy she was strict about shushing. You whispered in there."

Guy who shouted at me once and then later came back to apologize slides by the desk without making eye contact. I think he's embarrased to talk to me now.