All up in my FACE, I hate that!!!!

This afternoon, a patron approached me at the desk to inquire about the computer time guidelines.

He was leaning over the desk all in my face. I saw what used to be his entire grill! There
was one thin pointy tooth in the front. Nothing but black space surrounding it. The bottom
of what used to be a row had some enamel points spaced here and maybe there(2-3.)
And......more BLACK SPACE, there were even craters. I was so digusted. He just kept
asking me more and more questions and leaning further over the desktop. It got to the
point where I was leaning backward in my seat. I was hoping the look of disgust was not
plastered on my face.

He finally understood and walked away. I had to explain the proceedures four times. At the end of each of the first three explainations, he would say, "I don't understand? Why is that policy in place?" I realize that he may have held hope that my explaination may have changed during one of those times, but it didn't. Policy is policy. I don't make the rules, I just explain them all day long.

****He was dressed in gothic attire, black leather trench coat and all********

And you said it with a straight face

The trend has not been broken. One of the many Shems approached me at the reference desk.

Shem: "I tried to book a computer but when I selected Main Library, the screen just went back to the home page. I need help with words, I mean I am illiterate. I mean, I can read and write, but I am a little dyslexic, but I can use the internet just fine. I just need you to write a few words down for me."

Psychiatry
Counselor
Transgender Resource
I took the Shem's library card and attempted to book internet time. When I asked what was needed, the response was, " I need the first available timeslot."

Well, the first available timeslot was the next hour. The Shem determined that would be too long of a wait. Razor shaved eyebrows, man's longsleeve sweater, woman's tight pencil skirt, socks and tennis shoes.


WHY DID I SEE:

A patron walking past a stink zone while holding his nose closed. MAN, HOW I HAVE WANTED TO DO THE EXACT SAME THING MANY A DAY, TIME, HOUR, BUT I didn't want to offend anyone by my actions.

Pissed off to the highest pisstivity!!!!!

Last hour on the reference desk, last 10 minutes. Why did I answer the telephone?

Bruh Man on a cell phone outside somewhere with someone giving him the words( yeah, I heard all of that.)

1st question: " Which president fought in the French/Indian War before he was president?"

My colleague and I conducted the search (trying to end the call as soon as possible because our time was almost up.) The answer we came up with is George Washington.

I retrieve the telephone and tell this fool: "George Washington fought in the scuffle that became known as the prelude to the French/Indian War"

Bruh Man says: "Negative." This angers me, because I felt as if it was a game and he had decided to call the library and just mess with someboday and I happened to be the one who
answered the telephone. I asked him, " Well, who is it then?" He told me he didn't know and proceeded to:

Bruh Man then asks: "Can you look something else up for me?"

I said, "No, you need to come into the library and conduct your own search!"

He says," You can just Google the question? I want to know who said Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes."

Finally, I look it up after debating with him on his need to come into the library and look these things up himself.

Wikipedia says it has never been determined who made the statement, there is a debate between it being Colonel William Prescott or General Israel Putnam.

*update***I have conducted further research for this post and found that it has been deemed that Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Agnew made the statement on June 27, 1743.

The fool tells me that is not who it could have been and I need to search further. I told him, " No, you need to come in here and do the search!" He then tells me that he is in another state and not able to do that. I told him that he was outside and calling from a 415 area code, so if he was out of state, he was on a cell phone. Me not thinking, the prefix was a ghettro cell and you know he wouldn't have been able to call from another state on that. You can barely call from another county.

The fool asked me how I new he was calling from a 415 number. I told him that I had caller-id. He then said, " I can come in and you can help me!" I said, " No, because I probably won't be here by the time you get here." He asked me what my name is. I told him that I wasn't giving him my name. He then asked me where I work. I asked the fool, " Where did you call?" We went back and forth, until I finally gave him the address of the library. He said, "Well, I want to know where you are!" I gave him the address of the library again and hung up in his face.

By this time my supervisor had come to the desk and he said, " Breath!" I told him that dude might call back because I hung up in his face.

2 Days later and a new attitude

Dude from Tuesday's post approached me at the desk as if he didn't insult me two days earlier. He asked me question after question. I answered his questions. The more he spoke, the clearer it became that he is uncomfortable with his lack of knowledge. He was trying to complete an application for an overseas ministry. He was having trouble understanding and completing the questions.

Oh but see.......Helping you with your job application is not in my job description. He asked for the history of the company. I gave him a printout of what they have on their website. He asked for a list of the countries in which they outreach. Once again, I gave him a printout of what is listed on their website.

He then proceeded to stand in front of me at the desk and expect me to go over each question with him. I surprised his butt. I helped the next person that approached the desk, which forced him to move out of the way.

Say WHAT?????

How is it that you think you can curse me out because the free internet access isn't working as fast as you think it should?

This man called me over to help him because the terminal he was at wouldn't shut down. He didn't take into consideration that he had four different windows open and he wanted the computer to shut down immediately.

I turned the hard drive off and tried to explain to the man that he wouldn't be completely logged off that terminal until it had reboted. He started yelling," THAT'S SOME BULL SH*T" along with some other stuff that I tuned out. Finally, I said, " You know what, it is what it is and you can take it however you want." I then walked away while he was still talking.

These people never cease to amaze. How is it that you can complain about something that is made available to you at no cost whatsoever?

Wrong foot, Wrong statement, wrong time of day

5:25 p.m., I get off at 6:00 p.m. A young African American man approached me at the desk.

I ask, " Can I help you?"

He says, "I want to test your knowledge."

I am tired and I really didn't feel like playing games, so I told him so. He says:


"I guess it is gonna take a white man to answer my question." THAT WAS THE WRONG STATEMENT!!!!!!!

I said, " I suggest you go find one who will answer the question for you because I AM NOT IN THE MOOD TO PLAY GAMES!!!!!!!"

He says, " Oh, okay, take the I want to test your knowledge out of the question."

He wanted a continent or nation without a governing body. I gave him two possible books for him to find the answer. He didn't look too happy to discover that I wasn't just going to look up the answer for him.

***It sounded like a trivia question that instructors throw out for extra credit.**** I stopped giving out answers after my first semester as a Reference librarian at the community college.

Highlight from the week of 10/2/2006

Wednesday evening as I was preparing to leave for the day, one of the supervisors came into the work area looking flustered.

Me: "What's wrong?"

Sup: "Is it a full moon today?"

Me: "I don't know, you need to check that out."

He lets out a huge sigh. So I ask.........

" What's wrong? You only have one more hour to go."

Sup: "There is this man who keeps coming back to the desk and asking if this is the 5th floor( we are located on the third floor.)

I began laughing because "the Brotha Man" character from the Martin show came to mind.
The supervisor was giving me an odd look. I thought about whether or not I should explain what made the incident funny or if I should leave it alone. In the end I decided to leave it alone for the evening. It was time for me to go and it would have taken to long to explain the connection.

To the left, to the left please

Ususally it's the librarian who sits on the left side of the reference who receives the most questions from patrons. THAT IS NOT THE CASE whenever I am at there. I get all of the walk-ups. There was a line in front of me and the lines starts..................you guessed it, to the left.

My revenge tactic for my co-workers.................I stopped answering the telephone reference questions. Since most of these folks will let me answer a line of questions, while they are doing whatever it is they do, I stopped answering the telephone. If I mention the line, I hear, "Oh, I didn't realize there was a line." Well if you looked up from the computer, your book, magazine, whatever, you might see the line!