Monday, July 17, 2006

Sundays at the library are special

During my first hour on the desk, this Anglo woman who looked to be in her fifties approached me and asked for help. Normally, that is okay but this time I was in the middle of helping someone with a computer issue. I explained to the woman that I was helping someone else and she would have to get in line at the reference desk to have her question answered. There were three people in line waiting to be helped. When I turned to see how many people were in line, I noticed that they were throwing "mean mugs" toward the woman. Her response" I only approached you because I recognized you as a former student in one of my classes." I tell her, " No, it wasn't me." She insists that it was. I stand firm and tell her," No, it wasn't me." I resume helping the gentleman. She then tells me that it must have been my sister in her Early Childhood Education Class. Anglo people just kill me. Little did this know, my sister and I look nothing alike and we have the same mother and father!

I REPEAT, "IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, YOU MUST GET IN LINE TO RECEIVE ASSISTANCE." She looks at the line, then looks at me and says,"I DON'T HAVE TO GET IN LINE!!!!!" The woman is crazy. She was talking up a storm to herself as she walked back to her seat. That is when I noticed that she had a pajama top over all of the other clothes that she had on. This happened in the 12:00 noon - 1:00 o'clock hour.

Fast forward to 3:45 p.m. One of the many he/shes approaches the reference desk to complain about a woman in the restroom. He/she approached my co-worker because my treatment and responses have been deemed unacceptable(more on that later.) The complaint: " There is a woman in the restroom who began yelling and cursing me when I entered the restroom. She said if I am too cheap to get the operation, then I should use the men's restroom." He/she says , "We are allowed full access to women's services, so someone needs to speak with that woman. She was extremely rude." My co-worker's response, " What does the woman look like?" He/she describes the crazy Anglo woman who was bothering us earlier. My co-worker says, " Oh, that woman is crazy." Co-worker then asks me, " Doesn't that sound like the woman from earlier." I tell her yes. Co-worker then describes to he/she exactly what the woman is wearing. He/she agrees that the woman has on those clothes and is carrying a lot of bags. My co-worker states again that said woman is "crazy," he/she shouldn't pay her any mind. He/she goes on to state that he/she has experience working with mentally challenged people and a lot of them are faking.

I didn't agree with that statement but since he/she didn't approach me, I stayed out of the interaction. I was thinking that if he/she has so much experience, he should have spoken to the woman himself and left us out of it. That is one of the reasons he/she no longer approaches me. I don't jump to what he/she deems his needs are.

My co-worker does nothing while he/she is standing there. He/she eventually walks away without receiving the immediate response that he/she wanted. My co-worker told he/she that she would look out for the woman and speak with her when she exited the restroom. Five minutes after he/she left, my co-worker telephoned our security to inform them of the incident.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The term you can use for he/she is (SHEM).


John

Nexgrl said...

John,

Thanks for the new combo.

NSearchOfMe said...

Hi,
This is my first time here... I don't think I could have kept a straight face when "he/she" told the part about being too cheap to get the operation use the other bathroom.

Have a good day.

Nexgrl said...

NsearhofMe,

Since Shem(thanks John)didn't approach me, I was able to turn my head so that they would see me laugh. After the chuckle, I tuned them out.