New Year's Eve

I started this workday with high hopes. I was hoping for peace and quiet.

It was great for me until 3:00 p.m., I had been on the desk for five minutes. All of a sudden, I hear..........A BIG BANG ONTO THE TABLE(the tables are wooden.) I think nothing of it, maybe someone dropped something on the table. ANOTHER LOUD BANG, REPEATED BY AN EVEN LOUDER BANG!!!

I walk over to the computer terminal and ask the WEIRDO if it was he making all of that noise.

He said, " Yeah, I guess that would be me."

I said, "If you bang that mouse one more time onto the table, you will have to leave this floor and use the computer on another floor!"

He said, " I was only trying to make the computer work." NOW WE ALL KNOW THAT BANGING THE MOUSE ON THE TABLE AS HARD AS YOU CAN, DOESN'T CAUSE THE COMPUTER TO RUN ANY FASTER!!! So........I turned and looked at him REAL HARD, then turned back around to return to the desk.

3:45 p.m. Different man.

Patron: I must be stupid because I can't find what I am looking for.
(I let that one slide.)
As I am searching online for the author, he asks, "What's your New Year's resolution?"

Me: "I don't make resolutions."

Patron: " Do you know what mine is?"

Me: "No, why don't you tell me.."

Patron: "To flirt with more women."

Me: no response whatsoever................birds chirping

Patron: "Oh, you're like, my resolution is to ignore people like you."

Me: still no response...................birds chirping louder and longer

I was able to located what he was looking for and sent him in the direction, that he needed to go.

Erotic Fiction-----I can still be amazed...........

Tuesday December 26th, I had two different old men approach me at the desk to say that they couldn't locate the "sex" fiction in the online catalog, or on the shelves. (They actually approached the desk about 15 minutes apart.)

The first one was simple, I explained to him that it could not be located in the catalog under sex fiction, the term used is erotic fiction.

The second man was a different story. When he first asked about the books, I looked at him strangely because I thought he might be with the other man. I realized they weren't when he said, " You know, the real reason I want those type of books is medical!"

I looked him dead in the face and said, "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR REASONS ARE!"

I keep telling friends and family that I receive too much unneccessary information while I'm at work. Between the patrons and my co-workers, just telling me things that they should keep to themselves, my brain is full at the end of the day.

I had to share this story because, every time I think about that man wanting to tell me his MEDICAL reasons for wanting to read Erotic Fiction; I get a little sick. An old shrivled up man wanting to share his "medical" condition with me.

Rain and the need for a warm dry housing situation

This went down Thursday December 21, 2006 5-6:00 p.m. hour. I noticed a man whom I had told to lower his voice during the 3-4:00 p.m. hour. He was talking to himself loudly, "N*gg*s ain't this'n' that, fa**ots, and le**ians, f**k them, and on and on. He wasn't on my side of the floor, so I just made a comment and let him go on his merry way.

Well.......he stopped near the reference desk, we could hear him but we couldn't see him. One of the other librarian's said something to him and he was quiet for about five minutes. He then got even louder with his rants. The librarian said something to him again and called security. He proceeded to get even LOUDER. WHAT WE DIDN'T SEE WAS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. The man ranting was white, he sat next to a black man talking all of that mess!!!!

The black man got up and told the white man to do the same. The black man pushed the white man becuase he kept talking about n***as ain't s**t, they ain't goin do s**t. Well, the black man told him to keep talking about n***as and he was going to see what would happen.

Security was called again and finally we saw some of them approaching the area. Too late..... Black man cold clocked the white man and it was on. Security had them on the ground and cuffed. Why was the white man still talking mess????? He was saying that he was minding his own business, listening to his music and the black man attacked him. The black man was saying he didn't even touch the white man. The security supervisor told the black man that she saw him throw the first punch. She then told them both that she wasn't in the mood and they better do what they were told and be quiet while doing so(she's black!)

We (the librarians) find out that the dance between the two men had begun earlier in the day. The white man had been following him around the building and taunting him. Well, they were both homeless, it was raining(had been all day) with no sign of letting up, and it was cold( well, cold for us, warm for others.)

I have learned that this is sometimes the actions taken by those who don't want to spend the night on the street. The find a way to be hospitalized, or jailed. What, shelter you say.....Ah, but that is seldom a choice made with free will by those hardened by life on the streets.

Sometimes..... it just takes me a minute

This woman walks up to the Reference desk and asks me if anyone turned in a cell phone because she left it on the table with her belongings and it was gone when she returned.

I check the lost and found box behind the reference desk and call security to see if a purple cell phone has been turned in. As I turn to check for the phone, she says, "It's not turned on." (that was my first clue) No sign of the cell phone in either place and I report my findings to the patron.

She then says, "Well, something needs to be done." I inform her that she can make a report and she says that's what she wants to do. Security usually sends an officer to take the report, but not today. Chick that answered the telephone told me to tell the patron to go downstairs and make the report.

I told the patron that she must go downstairs and make the report. She told me that all her stuff is at the desk where she was sitting and she can't leave it. I told her that she must pack up her stuff and go downstairs to make the report. That was fiftten minutes after the hour.

Every fifteen minutes thereafter, the patron came to the desk and asked me if a purple cell phone had been turned in. She had a hot pink cell phone holder clipped to her pants. The last time she asked, she also asked if we had a book on how to file a police report on people in the library who steal cell phones. I said, "Not on this floor."

I admitt, I wasn't paying any attention to the woman. It took her second trip to the reference desk for me to realize something was wrong. She made no attempt to go downstairs and I never saw where she was sitting or any belongs (other than the cell phone holder.)

We can't have everything

This week was relatively smooth, or so I thought. No sign of the potential stalker from last week.......AND THEN..........This morning things took a turn for the worst.


The Green-eyed crackhead from a previous post resurfaced. I was listening to my co-worker rant about the headaches my ex-Manager is dishing out when.......Green-eyes says, "Excuse me, I am having a very bad day, can I have a hug".........I didn't miss a beat. I turned his way, said no and went back to speaking with my co-worker.

He was gross ya'll. Dirty clothes and white foam surrounding his mouth. Wow, just the thought turns you on hunh?