Not Thursday

Today at Walnut Bluff:

A man needs to print off some paystubs and doesn't speak any English at all. 20 minutes of help conducted entirely in Spanish, which goes better after I get him to write down "talones de cheque" so I can Google the translation and finally figure out what he is asking for. He and his dad are very patient, and Dad insists on introducing himself and getting my name on the way out.

Middle-aged patron: Is there a card catalog computer where I can look up books for myself?

Spend half an hour moving tables and chairs around for a program, no one comes.

I wear a button on my ID badge lanyard that says "My preferred pronouns: She/her/hers." I'm a cis woman who wears skirts to work, so I don't think it's really needed to help people figure out how to refer to me--it's more for trans or non-binary patrons who can see a signal that I'm probably not going to be awful to them. I was helping a teenager print a PDF that was causing them problems for some reason and they saw my button and asked where I got it. They thought it was so awesome that my library system had issued it to me. Then they asked me about an LGBTQ event that our neighboring branch is hosting next month, then they gave me a fist bump on the way out. Patron of the week for sure.

Do you have any books about BPD? Or general mental health, that would be good too.

While on the desk, I spend a lull running circulation reports, and then another lull trying to translate some of our flyers into Spanish.

Our heating is still out and our heating/cooling system is just a bunch of fans spread around the library. One of my coworkers goes to snap at a patron who reaches out to adjust one, I jump in and say "Go ahead, ma'am." I love being the manager today.

Man: I am here for the English class.
Coworker: I'm sorry, that class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Man: It not Thursday now?! 

A kid wants The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey--I love those books. 

Do my half-hourly walk around, picking up trash and refilling the toilet paper in the bathrooms. I wonder what our annual toilet paper expenditures are.

Children's librarian needs to talk to me about summer reading. "These people say they will come for free, but I've heard they are really unreliable. If it's okay with you, I'm going to put in a funding request to get someone else." 

Sorry, sir, you need to leave your Uber scooter outside. Those things have been causing us enough trouble lately as it is.