Why do folks have the nerve to challenge when they are way wrong?

My first hour on the desk and it's lunch time. This man exits the bank of elevations with a B.K. special in hand(it's across the street.) He stopped at the wi-fi table and spoke with a man on a laptop while chewing. He hands over a B.K. bag, still chomping down. I walked over to him and told him that eating isn't allowed in the library. This is what he said......."Well, can I finish my burger???"

I told the patron that he needed to go outside to finish his burger.

Dude proceeded to sit down at the laptop. He initially placed the burger in his backpack. When he was sure that I wasn't paying attention, he slipped a large portion into his mouth.

At first, I was going to call security. I changed my mind and walked over to inform him that if I caught him again, I was calling security so that he could be escorted out of the building.

Dude said, "I'M NOT EVEN EATING!!!"
The second burger was on the table next to him, so he held it up for me to
examine.
I said, " I saw you place the burger in your mouth."

He let out a loud sigh. I just walked away.

Monday December 24th, 4:55 p.m.

A patron approached the desk and asked..............WHAT TIME DOES THE LIBRARY OPEN
TOMORROW?
My co-worker and I both answered, "We are closed tomorrow!" Like almost every other place, there were signs posted at all around in all languages.

Reason #1

Yesterday afternoon, I was at the reference desk with the floor manager. A woman approached the floor manager and asked him if he had seen her daughter. This is what I heard before I tuned the conversation out..........

Parton, "I dropped my daughter off because I had a meeting and told her that I would pick her
up in two hours, she is 14. In the meantime, I lost my cellular telephone and I
have been calling her from pay telephones. She hasn't answered any of the times
that I tried to reach her."

I tuned them out because I had too many comments.....

1. She is 14, she could have stayed at home.

2. What makes you think that she is still at the library if you said that you
would pick her up in two hours. You didn't walk her in here and show her
where you wanted her to wait, how do you know that she even came in here?

3. She probably isn't answering the calls from the pay telephone because she
doesn't answer calls from telephone numbers that she doesn't recognize.

4. Did you leave her a voicemail message telling her that you were trying to
locate her?
Needless to say, the patron left the library after speaking with the floor manager. All he told her to do was look in the teen center.

Public Service Announcement

This is my personal opinion. I repeat, this is my own personal opinion.

During Winter Break, Spring Break, Summer Break, or any time that a parent or care giver is unable to watch a child or provide care, PLEASE DON'T THINK THAT IT'S OKAY TO LEAVE THAT CHILD UNATTENDED AT A PUBLIC LIBRARY!!!!!

If you are dropping the child/children off to attend a particular event at the library, please make sure that they are safely inside. Make sure that you are able to pick-up your child/children after the event is over.

I don't reccommend leaving children unattended at any point in the library. The job description for a librarian doesn't require them to watch children (even children's librarians.) We are required to help children search for materials that can be checked out from the library, used as reference, or information that can be found on our databases. We can give you the basics for obtaining information on the internet and we are supposed to explain the risks of using sources from the internet.

Can you tell that Winter Break has begun in my area????

Sundays are so special

Yesterday, I did it to myself.

There is one particular homeless man who likes to frequent our floor. Most times, he disturbes the other patrons and must be escorted out of the library.

Yesterday, he walked onto the floor talking loudly. He was so loud that when he approached a bank of internet computers, all that were using them turned around to stare at him. He noticed them looking at him and got real quiet( I guess he had flashbacks of being asked to leave.)

He found a table and I thought that he would be calm for the rest of the afternoon. No!!!! He approached the desk and began asking the floor manager questions. I was thinking everything would be fine, as long as he left me alone.

About 1/2 hour later, I saw him approaching the desk while I was alone helping a patron. I mumbled, "Aw man!! Here he comes again."

The patron I was helping began laughing as she asked me, "Is he talking to his friends that we can't see?"

I told her that he was. To our surprise, he stopped right beside us and just stared. He then looks me in the face and asks, "AND, how are you doing today?" I answered, and he walked away.

Each time I was on the desk after that, he would stop in front of me and stare for a while. After staring, he would ask, "And, how are you today?"

I guess he wanted me to know that he knew he was irritating me.

Yesterday afternoon........

A woman approached the reference desk. She wanted to know about citing works. She was asking what the different approaches to citation are, what are the most popular methods, and things of that nature.

After showing her quite a few books, she said to me, "You have the greatest job in the world!"

My response, "Some days, it can be."

Patron: "What do you mean? The patrons have to be nice to you because you have so much knowledge about books and where to find information about whatever they are looking for."

My response, " No, not necessarily. They aren't nice most of the time."

Patron, "What do you mean? Why wouldn't they be nice to the librarians?"

In my mind, I was thinking where do I begin? It would take a long time to explain the whys of a patron's behavior.

I said, "There are days when we are cursed, yelled at, argued with, just too many things to name."

I got a propossal yesterday

This guy came to the desk in need of help on the computer. He wanted to know how to print the page that he was viewing. I explained the print process to him and returned to the desk.

Man.......He came to the desk again. This time,.......he wanted to know how to add money to his library card. I explained what he needed to do. He then asked me to walk him through the process. I get up to go show him what he needed to do. He stops me and says, " I left my bag and everything at the computer, I can't leave."

I was tired of the back and forth, so I said, " Come back when your computer time is up and I will tell you what to do so that you can retrieve your print job."

50 minutes passes, and dude returned to the desk. I explained the process once again. He then says, "Can't you just go over there with me and walk me through the process? I'm sure it's probaby easy, but please help a brotha out?"

We get to the copy machine and he says, "You know that I am Special Ed."

He finally has money on his card and is at the print station. He turns to me at the desk, " Can you come over here and tell me what I have to do again?"

So I walked over there with a look that said, "Now What???" He looked at me and said, " So, when do you want to get married because I need someone like you?"

I didn't look at him, nor did I say anything. I guess he took that as encouragement, because he asked me again. I turned around and returned to the desk without acknowledging what he had said.