Positive reinforcement

Today two different patrons told me I was "muy amable," which seems to be the standard compliment for good service in Spanish around here, and another patron said I had "the patience of Job" for helping a very confused man with a job application. I appreciated it greatly!

More trivial dilemma

Is it okay to tell a patron he looks like Idris Elba, or is Elba so handsome that saying someone looks like him is kind of definitionally flirting, and thus Not Cool to do at Work?

Blast from the past refgrunt

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!"

Dowtown is different

Both staff and patrons are adjusting to the reconfigured Downtown Library. Here are some comments from patrons so far:


"It looks bigger!" (It's the same size)


"It's like a completely new building!" (It's the same building)


"I didn't realize you were going to open again. I thought this library was just shut down."


"Is it still the same process to get on the computers?"


"Good, you're open. I hated North Side Library." 


"Can I still go up to the second floor?"


"There's a second floor now!?"


(As I am looking for a gosh-darned sharpie because I don't know where anything is in our new desks, and my arms are aching from carrying my laptop around during two hours of 'roving reference':) "You must love it!"


"I thought it would look more different. It pretty much looks the same."

I always vote for you

It's been a stressful week at both my jobs so it was very nice to talk to a patron today who called to ask about our renovation--not to complain; she was just interested and wanted to know what was going to change. She said, "I always vote for you. I think libraries are essential to a free society."

Nice and typical

Thursday, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

You can tell this is Small Town Library because the first thing I do in the morning is let some people from the Friends of the Library group in a few minutes early. Definitely not something that would be allowed at Downtown Library. 

Coworker: I thought I was on the desk. Huh.

Direct a grandma and grandson to the bathroom. They come back a minute later. Grandma says, "He says the first one is out of paper towels."

Can I have the phone number for County Mental Health? 

 Someone comes to claim some summer reading prizes.

(I place holds on next month's book club selection for all my regular members.)

(I email the director to ask permission to ask a local business to donate stuff for one of my upcoming programs. )

The elevator is out of service and there is a Beatrix Potter Tea Party going on up on the third floor. Carry a stroller up there for a mom with one 1ish-year-old and one 4ish-year-old. The 4-year-old proudly 'helps' by carrying the water bottle that was in the stroller.

A parade of kids and parents come for the Tea Party, including an adorable little boy who is really excited to see me and says hello to me three times, then goodbye to me three times.

Phone call: Your computer says you have Doctor Foster on DVD. Can you get it so I can come and pick it up in like 20 minutes?

Someone from another library drops off materials for an upcoming senior resource fair. 

Phone call: Can you please register me for the program on Monday night?

Help someone scan and email something.

Add time to the computer for the man who is always reading about (possibly betting on) horse racing.

Hands me a DVD of Foyle's War, set 2. "I'm here to request the next set of this, please!"

I had to switch computers to let someone else use the scanner and now it won't let me log in.

A mom and kid have just signed the kid, about 12 years old, up for his own library card. We issue each person two copies of the card--a standard size one and a keychain one. The mom and son agree that the son, who has no keychain, doesn't really have a use for the keychain card. The son throws the card in the trash behind my desk, and his mom says, "Did you just throw that away?! That's your card, it has all your information on it!"

Regular patron, pointing at the computer area: Can you help me? I'm, um, I'm trying to sign up for a dinner, but I don't understand this form.
Me: Well, I don't want to make any promises since I probably have never seen that website before, but I'd be happy to take a look at it with you! 
We take a look together--the poor guy has a specific link he wants to go to, which he carefully copied down. Unfortunately, whoever gave him the link didn't bother to tell him it was case sensitive. (Sidenote: Why is that even a thing?! Just add one more character to your URL string, geez!) Fortunately, a little guessing gets him to a working link, and I think I successfully impart the idea of a 404 error. He says, "Thanks so much, Emma! You are wonderful!"

Kid who threw his library card away: Can you show us where the baseball books are?

Where is the Beatrix Potter Party?

Dinner signup gentleman: Emma! Sorry, can you come look at this?...Oh no, now it's gone.

Help DSG print out an email. He is the nicest and we are mutual fans (another member added to my Old Man Fan Club).

I think the 60ish woman who I gave information to about our Friends of the Library book sale just said "Thanks dude." Hm.

My favorite volunteer: Someone needs to pick those hydrangeas that are just lying flat on the sidewalk out front and put them in a vase!  

Hey, Research Lady!

...is how one patron opened a conversation with me earlier this week. That is one job title I am happy to accept!

Patron of the week (maybe)

Today a man was assaulted and choked by one of the participants in Wednesday's almost-fight. After the police came and took his statement I thought he had left, but he and his friend came back to the desk to ask "Can you tell me how I'd find a book on pre-calculus?"


I'm not sure if this is really stupid or if this man is the patron of the week.


Also, about an hour after the cops left, and after my colleague and I had put back all the chairs and tables knocked over in the fight and reassured Janis that everything was okay, I got a phone reference call from a woman who had a lot of questions about a company that makes car wheels and its long history of mergers and name changes and everything (we get more of this than many libraries since this is Michigan). When I had told her most of what she wanted to know, she said "Thank you so much! You were sooo helpful! You really made my day! If I could give you a raise, I would!" Also, I soothed the computer-complaint woman without the other complainer getting mad about her noise level again! Maybe the fight gave him some perspective (he did not complain about the noise that the fight, or the police interviews in the aftermath, had made).


This job can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster some days.

Bad news bear

A patron called to ask if I could check if Michael Moore's movie Where to Invade Next was showing this weekend at our local theater (Moore is a Flint native and has called for our governor's arrest over the water crisis there, so he's been getting a lot of media attention lately). I checked, and the movie was not showing, so I told the patron, "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid that according to the showings page on their website, they are not showing it this weekend." And, I am 95% confident, the patron replied: "That's okay, you're a good bear. Have a good night!"


Today's Other Duty As Assigned: Being a bear.

Language barriers

I've been having a tough desk shift today. It started with a gnat landing on my lip! Gross! Talk about the 'jungle' of public service. The worst part was that I was talking to a patron when it happened so I couldn't even freak out as I normally would.


I'm on the desk by myself from 6 p.m. to close because the evenings are normally really quiet. Instead both phones are ringing simultaneously while I have someone standing in front of me.


I had to break it to a very nice woman that the reason she can't find season 3 of the TV show Web Therapy was that it never came out on DVD, so there's no way for her to even buy one, let alone borrow one from the library. It's only available to purchase as single-episode digital downloads from Amazon or iTunes. This after she had just finished telling me that she 'just didn't get technology.'


The worst, though, is the nice middle-aged man who I call BBC Farsi Man because "BBC Farsi" was one of the very first English phrases he learned. He's from Iran and speaks very little English. He is one of the most patient men ever born, and a quick learner. When he first started coming into the library, all he could say besides "BBC Farsi" was "Good" and "Thank you." You had to walk him through every step of logging onto a computer and searching Google for the BBC website in Farsi. Now he can get to it all by himself and even goes on youtube and watches videos about his hometown. Now when he comes in he says, "Hello my friend!" with a big smile on his face, and shakes my hand. Every single time, and he is in most days.


Today he came in ("Hello my friend!") and after about 20 minutes he was able to convey to me that he wants to Skype with his friend from home. I think what he was telling me was that his friend had had a baby and he would like to see the image of the baby on Skype, but I'm not totally sure. I think what he wanted to know was, if he got a phone, could he could use the library's wireless internet to use Skype on it to call his friend? This is not a complicated idea, but our common language consists of about 10 words, so it was extremely hard for him to communicate to me. He was so happy when he finally got it across, even though the answer was 'yes, but a phone costs a lot of money.' I really wish I could tell him how patient he is and how much I appreciate it, but so far I am limited to weirdly over-emphasized facial expressions. I checked Pronunciator, our library's language-learning database/program, to see if it could help me out, but Farsi isn't one of its included languages.


So, if any readers happen to know how to say "You are very patient" or even "thank you" in Farsi, please let me know!


On the bright side, I did observe a woman come in, look around, and say to herself, "Wow, this place is amazing!"

Weekend refgrunt

Today's refgrunt I hope will be a good one. Three different patrons have asked me things about how the library works, which I always like.


The first guy in lets us know that none of the computers have been turned on. We had a program last night which probably caused this, no big deal, we get an excuse to get up and walk around to turn all the machines on, and the guy is a regular who knows enough about computers to just press the power button rather than having a meltdown.


An older black man in a fedora and long coat comes in, dressed in what I think of as 'classic sharply-dressed old black gentleman' style. He asks me where I went to college--Chicago. Oh, that's where he's from! We have a nice thirty seconds of reminiscing, but sadly, he wants to know "If you owe the library a lot of money from a long time ago, what can you do to get that sorted out?"


Teenager: How can I look up books by a particular author?


Phone: How do you place an interlibrary loan?


Help a guy enter his birthdate on a web application. State of Michigan, giving someone a calendar tool that starts on this month, in 2015, is not very helpful for helping someone enter a birthdate!


Lots of phone calls this morning, relatively speaking. Coworker on downstairs desk asks me to check our dumbwaiter (yes, dumbwaiter)--is the door all the way closed? It won't come down.


Excuse me, where's the restroom?


Elevator doors are stuck half-way closed and flailing feebly like a bug that's been stuck on its back for a long time. You can help them by forcing them to open all the way again and letting them start over. I can't wait for the renovation coming in the fall.


I hate all phone calls that start with "Can you please go to w, w, w..." He wants to know about "miniature ultra-sensitive microphones." But his demanded website doesn't have any.


Phone: What version of Office do you have on your computers?


Teach someone how to use the enter key. Second one this week.


Now, how do I indent this? (She doesn't know the term 'indent,' but that's what she's describing).


I need help with printing. Oh no, please don't put that money into the copy machine!


I need help with copying (different woman).


Do you have a bathroom on this floor!?


The elevator is really acting up again.


Checkout desk calls: Patron called about a dropped hold but it's supposed to be on the shelf up there. I can find  the other volumes in the series, but not that one. Grr.


Is your romance downstairs? (Oh, romance section!)


Do you have Local True Crime Account? I'm related to that woman. It's in our local history collection so you can't check it out, sorry. That's okay, can you show me where true crime is instead? Yes!


This is embarrassing, but...I don't know how to turn the computer on.


Rude "Can you give me the number for..." guy calls for a local car dealer. He always talks to you as though you're a moron, and I've never heard someone say "thank you" in a less-sincere way.


Help someone with numbered lists in Word.


Downstairs keeps changing their minds about whether our spazzy elevator should be 'out of service' or not, so I keep taking down and then putting up the sign. At one of the times it's up, a man reads it and then asks, "The elevator's out of service?" What did you think "The elevator is out of service" meant?


Do you have a section for oversized books? I did the worst thing you can do with a book you love--I lent it.


I really hate telling poor people that they have to pay for the copies that are their mistakes, but I did show her how to do it and tell her to let me know if she needed more help, so you've got to draw the line somewhere.


Now Numbered Lists needs to print.


Do you have a stapler I can use?


True crime woman comes back--she's decided to put that first book she mentioned on hold after all.


Physician's Desk Reference.


If I give you the name of a vice president, could you tell me when he died? We go through four, all of whom died in the month of November of various years. He is so excited! He says "You are so helpful, and so quick!" (and so full of questions I would like to ask you, sir!)


The elevator is still behaving very oddly.


How would I upload a picture I found online to Facebook?


How do I print some copies? (I hate the copier vs. printer guessing game)


Copier (different patron, first guy wanted to print) is out of legal-sized paper.


A new variation on "Can you watch my stuff?" No, the bathroom being "tiny" doesn't mean we will change our We Will Not Watch Your Stuff policy.


Adorable toddler daughter of my coworker and his wife stop by! Extremely cute! Coworker makes her ask "Miss Emma" if it's okay for him to go downstairs with her and pick out some picture books. For once he'll get the 15-minute break that we are supposedly entitled to, but etiquette says you never get to take on the desk.


The copier is jamming.


Now it's making 8.5x14 copies when a different patron wants 8.5x11. It's starting to compete with the microfilm reader for Least Favorite Machine.


To get on the computer, do I just put my number in?


The woman who didn't want the legal-sized copies says that the news article she is copying is about her son. He wrote a book!


Here's a good question: How do you find out if a family member who died left a life insurance policy? If you were in Michigan, you might want to contact the DIFS OFIR at http://www.michigan.gov/difs/0,5269,7-303-13222_13250-275328--,00.html. Michigan government websites--their links are the worst, but their acronyms are pretty bad too. This question starts off alarming: "Where would I find out about death insurance? Someone or other died and left money to my cousin. This was in 1979..." but it turned out all right, except for the lady whose son wrote a book trying to interrupt to tell me more about it.


The self-check machine is saying I have something overdue. What is it?


Purchase request for the son's book. The only way I could deflect her from telling me about it ad nauseum, and it actually looks like it might be a good fit for our collection.


Brain teasers? Also, how do we get on a computer?


You can't get on the computer because you owe us too much money. They are super rude about it.


Another person, a kid, also can't get on the computer. Her card is expired and she doesn't owe any fines, yet she, like the fine-owers, has to go 'all the way downstairs' to renew her card. She's totally cheerful.


Another phone call from the guy who calls all the time yet thinks we are idiots. He wants to know how to spell "pesticides" and "fertilizer" and keeps asking me if I'm sure I'm telling him the correct spelling. Then he talks to me for about two minutes about how the library should be open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays for 'family hour.' 9-6 like we do now is okay, but I'd really like to have an hour with my own family on Saturday nights. Of course, I don't say that to him.


Someone wants to borrow the book of tax forms, still.


Regular: "You might want to call security in case that gets out of hand." He walks away before I can ask any questions and I can't figure out what the 'that' might be.


How do I change the page color in Word?


Phone number for a bakery...in Los Angeles.

Popular

I'm feeling popular for two reasons today. First, an Arabic-speaking man and his English-speaking friend were so pleased that I could help them print something out from the man's email. He said "Thank you so much for your help and your pleasantness."


Second, this blog is now linked to on Love the Liberry, the ultimate blog of the public library experience. Amy and her co-bloggers are kind of my heroes, so it's pretty amazing to me to think that they like this humble competition!

Hilarity

From the One City Over Public Library, where I am doing my 'student librarian-ing':

I was 'observing the reference desk' i.e. chatting with the two reference assistants, one of whom looks kind of like a rabbi to me--he has a serious countenance and a very impressive beard--yesterday evening. About 20 minutes before closing, a girl about eleven or twelve, walking by with her family, darted up to the desk and said, "Excuse me: Sir, I love your beard!" and then darted away again.

Party

When the tiniest, oldest man who comes to the library to read the newspaper every morning came in on Saturday, he came by the desk to say "When I saw all the cars in the parking lot I thought you were having a party in here!"

Compliment

Youngish man with little daughter: "Your glasses look so cute on you!...(I shudder inwardly)...They make you look like a librarian!"
Me: "Hey, thank you!"

Popular

Walk into work and there is a lovely thank-you note waiting for me from a patron--my first ever! Also her first language is Spanish so I know it must have been a big deal for her to write me something in English.

Patron asks: They don't tip at libraries, do they?

Old Man Fan Club

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.