A regular asked...........

Does the library have books on personality disorders?

I said, I'm sure they do, would you like one?

Patron, "No, you just deal with so many people on a daily basis that have mental
problems. Do they offer classes for the staff, teaching you techniques,
that enable you to deal with the issues?"

Me, "No, not really, and I haven't taken what they do offer."

Patron, " Have you read any of the books?"

Me, "No."

Patron, "Well, you must have a strong faith or something, to help you deal with all
that happens here on a daily basis."

Me, "Yeah, you have to have something."

As of this week, the restrooms are closed

The Chief of the Library and the City Librarian made the decision to close the public bathrooms on the 3rd floor indefinitely. The last straw occurred 1 1/2 weeks ago. A patron was caught cooking heroin in the stall in the men's restroom.

I have worked on this floor for 3 years, and they chose that incident as the reason.
The paramedics had to be called because a patron overdosed in the men's
restroom.

A fight broke out between a group of men's in the restroom.

A father and son were robbed and the boy was punched in the face
in the men's restroom.

The toilet and or, one of the urinals are intentionally clogged at least
once a week.
You get the idea, a lot of bad things have happened in that restroom before, and they thought nothing of it.

This is my greatest fear while at work

http://www.khou.com/home/Houston-librarian-beaten-after-asking-patron-to-quiet-down-79675377.html

How are you feeling today

That was the question that a patron asked me Tuesday.

Me: "It doesn't matter, Do you have a question?"

Patron: "It does matter, how are you feeling today?"

Me: "Like I said, it doesn't matter. What is your question?"

We went back and fourth a few more times, until he finally realized that I wasn't going to answer his question.

He wanted a book, but he didn't know who the author is, and he didn't know the title either. All he could tell me was that it was about wealthly African Americans in California.

The back story to this individual and myself is that I had him removed from the branch where I used to work. I was the only librarian on duty one Saturday, and he entered the library cursing and talking about white people, christians, and saying how he was going to destroy things. I called the police and had him removed. Before he would leave, he insisted that he needed to check out a book.

About two weeks after that, he returned to the branch and told he that I had gotten the wrong impression of him. I told him that it didn't matter what I thought of him.

The buzz this week

For the past few months, there have been stabbings on our local transit system. The same individual has been identified each time. A first, there was only a police sketch. Last Friday, the mug shot of the suspect was released. This is where the buzz at work occurs. When I saw the picture flash across the screen, I immediately recognized the individual. He was a regular at the library and was always on the floor that I work on. He would insist on being helped by the male African American librarian. If he wasn't available, and I was on the desk, he would insist that I help him. If we were both on the reference desk together, he would wait for him to help him. The patron stunk so bad, I didn't mind that he refused my help.


http://www.ktvu.com/news/21925268/detail.html?taf=fran

Man!!!! It started before I even entered the building today

As I approached the entrance, I saw two of our security personnel with three individuals.

Security was rousing the men from laying on top of the grates in front of the building. One of the men was yelling at security, telling them, "I'M HUMAN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO TALK TO ME LIKE I'M A DOG!!! I'M GETTING UP, DON'T YELL AT ME, YOU AIN'T NOBODY, YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A REAL JOB!"

What our "patrons" laying across the grates outside has produced in the past, is foul odors throughout the building. Sometimes, it smells as if the staff area is on fire(because a lit cigarette or cigarettes have been thrown down the grate.) There are other times when it smells as if someone has urinated throughout the building, because you guessed it, they have urinated into one or all of the grates.

I have no one to blame, but myself

Monday November 30th, I volunteered to cook and serve food at a homeless shelter in my neighborhood.
When I arrived, I was told that sign-in wasn't until 9pm. The late time should have been my clue to just drop off the food and leave. I saw quite a few men who visit my floor in the library all day. Thankfully, if any of them recognized me, they didn't say anything.

You'd think that I worked on the third floor

A man approached the reference desk, after looking on both sides of the floor.

Patron: "Where's computer terminal #411?

Me: "On the 4th floor.

The patron once again looks on both sides of the reference desk.(All of the computers
have numbers in the 300's on a bright yellow sign with black numbers.)

Patron: "So, this isn't the 4th floor?

Me: No, it's one more floor up.

************************************************

A woman approached the reference desk and leaned in, as if to whisper.

Patron: " I was in the Art & Music Dept., where I found some books. I asked where
the restroom is, and I was told that it's on the 3rd floor. I now want
the stack of books that I left at the desk."

Me: (I had just arrived at the desk because of a shift change.) "The Art & Music
Dept., is on the 4th floor."

Patron: "Okay, but I still want the books that I left at the desk."

Me: "You were in the Art & Music Dept., where you found some books, and that is on
the 4th floor."

Patron: "Ooohhhh, I'm still on the 3rd floor, and I need to go back to the 4th
floor."

The patron then, turned and walked away.

*************************************

One of the pages who works on the 1st floor walked off the elevator with a truck load of books. He began walking toward the Teen Reference Desk, stopped, turned, looked at me, and said, "THIS IS THE 3rd floor?"Me: "You wanted it to be another floor?"

Page: "I was just on the 4th floor, so when I saw the Teen Desk, I wondered why it
was there."

He has worked here longer than me, so I don't know what was on his mind.

There were numerous patrons who approached me with a call number written on a piece of paper, looking confused. The book they were looking for, was located on the 4th floor. The bad thing was that it was noted on the slip of paper that the book could be found on the 4th floor.

There's an professional org. I bet you don't know about

A man called yesterday afternoon and asked me to get the telephone number for the American Cultur Association. He pronounced it cul-TUR.
Of course I found no such organization. I gave him the number for the Popular Culture/American Culture Association.
The fool called back and said, "I want the number for the Cultur Association. If you don't find it, just give me the number for Georg.ia State University, and they will know what I'm talking about."
I gave him the number for GSU and thought, "Yeah, good luck with that."

My two favorites right now

Last Monday, my coworker went to help a patron who complained about not being able to log onto an internet terminal.
My coworker returned to the desk and said, "The patron couldn't log onto the terminal because the ethernet cable had been unplugged. Another patron using a laptop had plugged the ethernet cable into it.". The laptop patron then asked my coworker what was the problem with him using the cable.

Today
A patron called and asked me to give him the toll free 1-800 number for the state of Washington board of tourism. I returned to the telephone, told the patron that I found the number. As I began, "1-800-544," the patron stopped me and asked, "Is this the toll free number?"

Examples of patrons questioning my knowledge

This past Sunday, 4:45pm, the 15 minutes until closing announcement had just occurred. The public computers had automatically logged off.

A patron approached me at the reference desk........

Patron: "The library closes at 5:00pm today?"

Me: "Yes it does."

Patron: "It always closes at 5pm?"

Me: "Every Sunday."

Patron: "Are you sure that it closes at 5pm every Sunday?"

Me: "Yes, it closes at 5pm every Sunday."

The patron pulled the library newsletter from the reference desk, points to something in the newsletter and says, "What does this S 10:00am to 6:00pm mean then?"

Me: "Let me see what you're referring to."

I reached for the newsletter and the patron pulled it closer to him, out of my reach and said, "Oh, that's for Saturdays from 10am until 6pm."

Me: "Yes, that's what it means."

Yesterday, a woman approached me at the reference desk and said, "The computers still freeze all of the time, something should be done about it! Does IT know about that problem?"

Me: "Yes, they are aware of the problem and this floor is keeping a log of how often it occurs and which terminals."

Patron: "What reason does IT give for the problem?"

Me: "They actually said it's much better than before."

Patron: "You know, every since that virus, the computers haven't been the same. That's when they began freezing all of the time."

Me: "Yes, we are aware of that, that's why we keep a log. We are constantly arguing with them over the problem and we use the log to prove our point.

Patron: "It's not just your floor, it's every floor."

Me: "Yes, I'm aware of that, but our floor is the only one constantly complaining about the problem and keeping a log."

She finally seemed satisfied with my answer and walked away.

Shocked is an understatement

This afternoon, I was walking with a patron over to the ESL section. It was his first visit to the library and he was a bit confused.

As we were passing the online catalogs in the International Center, a patron turns to me and yells, "DON'T BOTHER ME TODAY!!!" I turned to him and said, without missing a step, "OH, OKAY!!!" The patron then turns to me and yells, "I MEAN IT, DON'T YOU SAY A WORD TO ME!!!" To that I replied, "I WON'T!!!"

I had never seen that patron before.

Minding my own business

I strolled into work dreading the day ahead. Three of the security officers began telling me how my name was "all up in the incident report, as 1 of 3 witnesses.". I asked them if they were referring to the "angry black man" from this past Thursday.". They confirmed that it was the same individual.
The patron left my floor and went on to yell and scream on the 2nd and then the 1st floors. Mr. Man has been banned for 7 days, but not before he called PoPo and filled a complaint against all library employees involved in his banishment.

People always want to test you

My last 20 minutes on the reference desk.

A black man leans over and yells at two white men. He told them to be quiet. They kept talking, so the black man yelled at me. He said, "WILL YOU TELL THEM TO SHUT UP?"
I yelled in return, "YOU AREN'T HELPING THE SITUATION BY YELLING!"

At that point, another librarian who wasn't even working reference that hour, stepped to the patron and said, "When you have a complaint, you need to walk to the reference desk and tell the librarian what the problem is. Don't yell at the librarians."

The black man then walks over to the reference desk and asked me to call security. I called security and said, "Can you please send someone upstairs. A patron has requested that security handle this problem."

The security guard arrived and spoke with the black patron and told him that he was being loud and that he needed to sit down.

The patron then asked me to call a manager. I called my supervisor because the floor manager was gone.

My supervisor arrived and told the patron that he had the same problem yesterday. The patron got mad and asked to speak to the head of the library. Well, tonight, the acting chief of the main library is a black woman, and I had a feeling that the patron wouldn't be satisfied with that either.

Throughout all of the mess that the black patron was causing the two white male patron who had been sitting next to him, kept talking at the same low level. We couldn't even hear their conversation at the reference desk and they were sitting not more than 5 feet away.

Radom

I try to start each day new and fresh. Why is it that by the second hour on the reference desk, once again, I've begun to HATE LIBRARY PATRONS?


If I answer your question, DON'T respond by telling me that I'm wrong. I've been doing this for 10 years now, I think I know a little bit more than you about the subject at hand.

Examples:

1) Patron: "There aren't any King James versions of the bible on the shelves with the 200's. I've checked."

I walked with the man over to the section that is clearly marked BIBLE STUDY, and showed him the four copies of the King James version of the bible that were on the shelf.

Patron: "OH"

2) Patron: "There's no call number that starts with the letter B."

Me: That's what is used to identify the biographies. They are shelved in
aisles 8-12.

Patron: "I still don't see where this book is"

I walked with the patron over to the biography section and pulled the book off of the shelf.

No thank you, no nothing.


For those of you in customer service, have you ever had a GROWN A$$ WOMAN give you a sigh and roll of the eyes?

A patron asked my co-worker where the copy room is. My co-worker told her that it is on the other side of the floor and showed her where it is.

The woman looked at her, sighed and rolled her eyes before turning and walking away.

(My co-worker is a Teen Librarian) My co-worker turned to me and said, "Did she just roll her eyes?" I said, "I know you're used to the teenagers and the pre-teens doing that, but yes, she did."

A male patron decided to share his "afternoon delight" with those of us who work on the 3rd floor.(That's a Jeff Lewis Flipping Out reference.)

One of the library pages approached me at the reference desk and said, "There's a man over there looking at porn and masterbating. He has on a green shirt."

No, I didn't go over and investigate. I called security. They came right away. Lucky for us, there was an officer already on the floor. The page went to get her.

By this time, "Ol Boy" had noticed that we were on to him and stopped what he was doing.

The officers escorted the patron down to their office and asked the page to complete an incident report.

Companion pets

I've written about this before, but I have a differnt take on it this time.

I was helping a patron(who really didn't need to be using a computer,) when I walked away from him, a woman asked for my help. I stopped to help her and as I made an attempt to show her what she needed to do, her dog(HUGE MUTT)pushed me out of his way. I was blocking his vision, while trying to aid his owner.

You just never know what you might discover

Yesterday afternoon, a patron brought a library card that had been left at the print station to the reference desk.

My co-worker scanned the card to see if it was valid. She said, "That's differents."

I asked, "What's different?"

My co-worker, "The patron's name."

I looked at the screen...........the patron's first name is OBSESSION......I just had to check the birth year, and it's 1989.

I said aloud, "I wonder what her Momma's name is?"

Completely not work related

This past Friday, I was lounging on the couch watching tv. A telemarketer calls and says, "I'm not trying to sell you anything. This is research about grocery shopping." I say, "Um huh."

Telemarketer: "How many times have you shopped at Food For Less in the last 6
months?"

Me:"Excuse me, which store did say?"


Telemarketer: "Food For Less."


Me: "Oh......I don't shop there EVER!!!"


Telemarketer: "Okay, let me just make a note of that."

****The next thing I heard was a series of clicks. The telemarketer had hung up on
me. I looked at the receiver and thought, "Oh No He didn't just hang up!"

There's a trend with some of my co-workers

There are two individuals who come to mind. One is the resident "druggy," and the other is "Ms. Whiney." Their attendance is so bad, that they have to wait until payday, to see if they have enough vacation or sick pay, so that they can skip work the next day.

This past Thursday, it was Ms. Whiney, but she had company, two others decided to play hookey also. This meant long hours on the reference desk. A man attached himself to me, and everytime that he saw me at the refrence desk, he had to ask me a question. It didn't matter that I could only understand every third word that he was saying. He was so out of it, he would start a question, pause, start again, pause, and then say, "Oh nevermind!" He would then walk around the floor, come back, and start the process all over again. He would alternate between that and going to another floor, then coming back about 20 minutes later.

I just wanted the day to be over in the worst way.

Don't step to me with some mess

I'll start this by saying that a lot of black men, who think they look half-way decent will step to me with some mess at the reference desk. I don't care who you are, I'm going to give you the same amount of service as I give everyone else.

Why would you try to smooth talk a librarian into doing something for you anyway. The computers are free and we have plenty of them.

Tuesday, sometime after 5:00p.m., I happened to be alone at the reference desk. A older black man(60's,) approached me, leaned over the counter and said, "Uh Yeah, who can I get to purchase my airline ticket online for me."

I said, "We can show you how to book a computer, login, and access the website of whatever airline you're using."

He said, "I ain't trying to do all of that. Besides, I ain't talking about today, I can come back another day." I want to avoid the $25 that they charge you over the telephone."

Once again I said, "Any of us can show you how to book a computer. You can even book one up to two days in advance. We can then show you how to access the internet and the airline's website."

Old Dude, "So you saying there isn't anyone that will do that for me? I'm not trying to pay that $25."

I said, "It's extremely easy to book your flight online. The websites walk you through the process. If my Mom can do it, you can do it too."

He said, "Alright, I hear what you saying, but um I'mma come back."

Why me?

The library opens @9:00a.m. I got off the bus abot 11 minutes after 9 this morning. As I was speed walking to the library, one of the regulars on my floor yells, "HEY, YOU'RE LATE HUH!!!". I just nodded my head and said, "Yeah."

What do you mean, you can't eat in the library?

I returned to the reference desk, after helping a patron find a book. My co-worker said, " I told those guys over there to put away their food." I asked, "Over where?" He told me they were in the corner on the other side of the room. I looked over there, and they were still eating. They had food on one side of the table.
I asked, " Did you call security?" My co-worker said, "Why should I call security, they should have been doing their job and stopped them at the door. The guys had the bags of food in plain sight." I said, "Well, that will just make it harder to get the next person to stop eating in here."

The guys were on my side of the floor, so I walked over there. As I approached the table, I said, "PUT THE FOOD AWAY NOW, OR LEAVE!" They said, "MAN, SHE'S COMING OVER HERE LIKE SHE AIN'T PLAYING." I then said, "YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW?" They asked, "WHY?" I said, "MY CO-WORKER ALREADY TOLD YOU TO STOP EATING, SINCE YOU DIDN'T, YOU NEED TO LEAVE? This little knucklehead had the nerve to say, "OH, SO, YOU JUST GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT HE SAID???" As he licked his fingers and hand, he then took a large bite out of his chicken sandwich. At that moment, it occured to me that I didn't have to be bothered. I stopped talking and went in search of a telephone. I finally went to the International Reference Desk and told the other librarian to hand me the telephone and dial security's extension. The knuckleheads heard what I said, so they jumped up out of their seats, talking about, "WE'RE LEAVING NOW!" One took the stairs and the other took the elevator. They were still eating, so I told security to be on the lookout for them.

What is the use of a security guard

Mondays, we open @10:00a.m. I was on the desk @11:00a.m., a man yelled down the stairs to security from my floor, "SECURITY, STOP THAT MAN, HE JUST PUNCHED ME!!!!"

Tuesday, it was a fight on my 3rd floor, security was called and of course, they took their sweet time responding.

Wednesday, this old man got mad at me because I didn't understand what he was saying. He would ask me a question, and then start mumbling. I had to ask him more than once what he was talking about.

He said, " You know Stanford and T......S.....U...." I said, "What about Stanford and TSU?" He then said, "You know......pictures." I asked, "Pictures of what?" He said, "Stanford." I asked, "What kind of pictures of Stanford?" He began yelling and mumbling again, "You know, history and the picture of the school." I decided that I wanted to get him out of my face because he stunk, and he was yelling. I printed out the information for Stanford and TSU, stappled it, and gave it to him." I thought that would make him go away.....No, he continued to stand there. After 5 minutes, he said, "I'm waiting on you to give me the information for the other school." I told him that I had given him the information for both schools. He finally left.

Thursday, when I went to the reference desk in the afternoon, I saw a Shim who we've had problems with in the past. Propper clothing seems to be a problem. Security gave a warning before, because revealing booty shorts were the norm. After the warning, the Shim began wearing long jeans. Obviously attention was the desire was that day because the Shim was wearing jeans that had spits in the back up to the thigh. Then there was a tear that looked to be self made, along the butt crack.

I called security and asked them who allowed that in the building. The Shim was walking down the stairs. The Shim stopped at the landing between the 3rd and the 2nd floor. The Shim did a spin and then a booty shake, so that everyone on the first floor could see the tear in butt.

I was shocked........

Let me give you the back story. I used to work in the hood, hence the name of my blog because working at that branch, I needed an outlet. Different "characters" came into the library everyday. I saw the featured idividual everyday. I walked past where he lived every morning and evening. I thought he was extra creepy then and I now have validation of the way in which he made me feel.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6948555

Just plain NASTY

I work with some NASTY people. I am not talking about the patrons. I am talking about the individuals who are paid to be here at least 5 days out of the week. This happened last Thursday evening, and it has taken me this long to decide if I was ready to share it with blog land.

I have a routine, so that I am not doing the "pee pee" dance when I approach my gate every evening. I use the restroom 30 minutes before I leave and then again 10 minutes before I leave. Well, last Thursday, I took my chances and didn't use the restroom.

I used the restroom at 5:30pm and everything seemed okay. At 6:30pm, I went to use the restroom, there was a sign on the women's restroom and it said, It needs cleaning and custodial has been called. I went to use the restroom again at 6:50pm, the sign was still on the women's restroom and the men's restroom was occupied.

I thought just maybe, the restroom was messy, you know, urine on the floor, and paper everywhere. No, that wasn't it. Someone had done #2, there was a trail leading to the door........WHAT THE..........Who doesn't even clean their own mess?

On another note

CRAZY AND ALCOHOL/RECREATIONAL DRUGS DON'T MIX!!!!!!!!I'm going to need everyone to shout that from a mountain top at least twice a month. My reciting it everytime I encounter a patron who mixes 2 or all three of those things isn't working. The other thing I announce at least once a day is, "I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE SHOULD JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!"

So it seems that I spoke too soon!

Yesterday we were short staffed, almost everyone had to work an extra hour on the reference desk. Lucky me, my extra time was spent at the International Reference desk. I was at there at 2pm, and then again at 4pm.

Well, Mr. McCreepy spotted me at the reference desk. At first he walked past without saying anything, and I thought I was safe. Nope, I need to stop hoping and praying that he will leave me alone. My prayer every time I spot him on the floor is that he will decide to like someone else. Another creepy person staring at me is the last thing I need in LIFE.

So, he walked pass me twice. The third time he came my way, was to use the print station. I kept thinking that somehow I was spared. After he retrieved his print job, he stopped and just stared. I spotted him, I was conducting a search on the computer and never looked his way. So the fool walks pass me and says high. I gave the driest "Hi," I could muster up.

Sometimes, my patience doesn't exist

There's this one patron who annoys me. My boss teases me and says, "Oh, is that another member of the Nexgrl Fan Club?"
He will stand in line and wait until I'm available. The other thing he does, is stand near the pillar by the reference desk and stare at me. He tries to use one of internet computers that face the reference desk, so that he can stare at me. How do I know these things? Everytime I look up, he is staring at me. He will ask me the same questions over and over again.
My breaking point came about 3 weeks ago. He waited to ask me to help him with a computer that was on the opposite side of the room. It was the side that my co-worker was covering. I spoke to the guy sharply and said, "OH, YOU COULD'T JUST ASK MY CO-WORKER TO DO IT?". To my surprise, that was all it took. I didn't see him for about 1 1/2 wks. Last week, I saw him talking to one of the librarians on the internation side of the floor. The day after that, I saw him using a computer near the reference desk, but he left without bothering me. I am hoping that this lasts forever!

Hoodwinked

Yeah, I hate to admit, but she got me good. What she doesn't realize, is that I won't let it happen again.

Last Wednesday, I was at my desk talking on my cell, when one of the supervisors(not mine) approached me. I told my friend that I'd call her back.
So, MsAbsentMinded asks me if I would come to work an hour later Thursday and work until 8pm. My first answer was no, because I made a deal when I began working in this department. I work Sundays, so I never have to work a weeknight. Ms.A.M.(Absent Minded) said okay, but went on to whine, "But I don't know if NeverCome2Work will show up. She returns from LA in the morning.". The whole time, I'm looking at Ms.A.M.and thinking that isn't my problem.
Since I was looking at her with a strange look, she asked, "Do you have plans? If you say no, I'll just ask 1 of the pages to sit at the reference desk with me." After about 7 mintes, I finally agreed.
Thursday, NeverCome2Work was scheduled to arrive at 12:30pm. I decided that I would just tell her to work the last hour and go home early. About 1:20pm, I see NeverCome2Work walking up the stairs toward our floor. The only librarian on my floor who looks like me is going down the stairs. He stopped, said something to NeverCome2Work; she turned around and left.
I found out later that afternoon that MsA.M. told NeverCome2Work that she didn't have to show up.
My supervisor said,"You are so good, the favor will be returned to you.". My response, "Funny how MsA.M. waited until after you left for the day to talk about changing my schedule.

Nothing new just another odd interaction

Wednesday afternoon, I arrived at the reference desk and there was a man standing there. He said he was looking for pg. 502. Now you'd think, that question would have made me turn around, but no, I tried to figure out what he was talking about.

I asked the man what type of book the page was located in. He kept repeating the page number and telling me that he found it at the other library. After about 2 minutes, I finally got some useful information out of him. The problem was, in between the regular questions/statements, he would blurt out, "Breaker, Breaker, 19," or he would start mumbling about female serial killers.

In the end, what he wanted was the Chronicle Yearbook for the 20th Century. We had a copy, but he was upset because he couldn't find the latest edition of the book.

Thursday, I found out how female serial killers became an addition to the man from Wednesday's ramblings. There were two African American Women who were doing research on female serial killers. One of the women had returned and I told her that I hoped she didn't bring that man with her. She said, she and her film partner were in the education room, and he heard them talking about female serial killers.

Look what I found

Yesterday, a patron approached the desk, he complained that a man was eating near him and the chewing was irritating him. As I was walking the aisle, to see what/who the problem was, I found something similar to this

Everything was plugged in and it looked as if it had been used. I was so stunned, that when I returned to the reference desk, I told my co-worker, "I could explain it to you, but I wouldn't do it justice. You have to go see if for yourself." She walked over there and returned to inform me that she was going in the staff area to inform my boss. He came out and asked the guy(by that time the patron had returned) how he was able to bring the computer inside.

Ordering Areas

For the past three years, my selection area for the library has been 800's. This means poetry, plays, American literature, and foreign translated literature. Well, as of June 1st, my order area has changed. I now handle selections for education( 370-379,) and occult, self-help, astrology (100-199, basically the area where the books go missing.)

At first, I thought, my boss suggested this so that I could have a change of pace. This week, I began exploring my new order areas. There is an Education Center attached to whoever handles that call number section. Well, it has been taken over by some strange folks. To ensure that the center is all theirs, they intimidate whoever goes in there to actually do research. I've gone in there a total of three times this week to re-stock the pamphlets. The first two times, the men were giving me crazy looks and I returned the same crazy looks, all the while I kept doing my thing. Yesterday, a couple was in there arguing. Well the guy threatened that if he left, he wasn't coming back. Since he was getting ready to use his cellular telephone, I had to burst both of their bubbles. I told him, "If you going to use that, you can't do it in here. You have to go out to the elevator area to use your cell phone." They both looked at me as if I had just spoken out of the left side of my head.

My cubicle is now crowded with education materials. I told my boss that I couldn't have that. He told me to store everything in the storage closet. I went into the closet Wednesday and discovered that I would have to clean it out in order to use it. There were boxes and boxes of education documents from two years ago. The past selector, opted not to clean the closet and to store everything at her desk. I began tossing boxes of stuff into the recycle bin. I had to stop, put on a dust mask and plastic gloves because it was so dusty and dirty.

Yesterday, I told my boss that he gave me those order areas because he wanted me to clean them up. You see, three years ago, I cleaned up the 800's. Yesterday, I began to look at job openings in my field in other parts of the country. He asked me if I was considering moving. I told him that I have to do something.

Holiday in lieu pay

Well folks, once again the end of our physical year is nearing and I found myself having to scramble. I received notice at the end of April that I had 64 hours of Holiday In Lieu pay that must be used by 6/30/2009, or I will loose them.

I checked the vacation datebook, and there were no consecutive days available. Since I hate getting up for work on Monday(I don't know why, because it's my 2nd day of the work week,) I have scheduled 3 Mondays in June off. In addition, I have taken two Sundays off as well.

I must say, it feels real good to have a short work week.

Arguing over 15 minutes

Last Wednesday was a doozy. After two yelling and shoving incidents, we called security because it sounded like it was about to go down. They arrived, told one man to leave, he walked away no problem. The other guy, well, he refused to leave. They had to restrain him with those plastic handcuffs. He had the nerve to yell and scream as they were shoving him into the elevator.

As soon as the floor was clear and quiet, lo and behold the first guy resurfaced. We then found out that he was the trouble maker. Once again, there was shouting and shoving. We called security again and were told that they were still dealing with the other guy.
It seems that homey was walking around the 15-minute express terminals
exposing himself. As if that wasn't bad enough, he had crabs and they were
visable.

Splash Award

I was given this award a few months ago and I never got around to posting it. I actually forgot about it and I'm sure that she has been wondering what happened.

I was nominated by Doret also know as The Happy Nappy Bookseller. I am supposed to nominate 9 people, but I'm not going to do that.

Doret, I am appreciated the nomination. I am honored that you think of my blogs when it comes to things of this nature. Really and truly, I'm always surprised to find that more than my friends and brother read my blog.

***Doret, my links to you blog aren't showing. I have triple checked and from what I can see, I typed correctly. I don't know what happened.

That librarian over there was talking down to me

That's what a patron yelled when he walked away from me. And, my co-worker said, "You do talk down to people, we(meaning him) are surprised that you haven't gotten slapped." I said, "I don't think I talk down to patrons." My co-worker did admit that in this instance, I was not in the wrong.

The patron approached me at the desk and said, " I would like a bibliography of Johnny Appleseed." Now, somehow, I knew that he meant biography. I conducted a keyword search and found that we only had one adult biography in the system, it was unavailable, but there were plenty in the children's room.

I said to the patron, "The is one biography, but it isn't available, you'll have to place a hold on it. It was checked-in today, at a branch, and it is in the process of being returned here."

The patron then said, " I want something that I can check-out today."

I said, "Well, the adult biography is unavailable, but there are a lot in the children's room."

The patron walked away and returned with a call number for the book that I had just told him about, but he said, " I want a bibliography on Johnny Appleseed and here is the call number for what I'm looking for."

I said, "That is the call number for the book I just looked up, and it is a biography. That title is unavailable, but there are plenty in the children's room."

The patron repeated himself, so I repeated myself slowly, so that he would be able to hear every word that I was saying.

The patron repeated what I said and walked away. Once he got over to the online catalogs, he began yelling, "THAT LIBRARIAN OVER THERE IS TALKING DOWN TO ME!!!
WHY DO ALL OF THESE BOOKS ABOUT JOHNNY APPLESEED SAY jB. I CAN'T FIND THE AREA WHERE THE BOOKS ARE. HE WAS A REAL PERSON AND I WANT A BOOK THAT TALKS ABOUT HIS LIFE."
I just let him talk, because he obviously didn't want my help. My co-worker finally said, "Let me go over and help him because he isn't understanding what he is doing."

Reference desk stories

Sunday, a patron approached me at the reference desk and said, " I lost 5 minutes of my time, can I get extra time." I ignored that statement and asked her where the computer was that she was using. As we are walking toward the computer, she says again, " I was told that if I lost computer time, I could get extra time. Well, I lost 5 minutes, can I get extra time?" Once again, I ignored her and rebooted the terminal. Each time she told me about the 5 minutes, I was hoping that she realized how stupid that question was. I was not going to give and extra hour because she lost 5 minutes. I never found out if she realized how stupid she sounded, but she didn't ask me anymore.

My co-worker was reading a food blog that she likes and she asked me if I had ever made pizza dough. I told her no. She then went on to ask me if I thought she would have to make the dough 24 hours in advance. I told her to call her local/favorite pizza parlour and ask them. I also told her that we get those types of questions all day long, she should not feel odd about calling a pizza parlour and asking. She kept saying how she felt that was a stupid question to call about. Finally, I said, "Why don't you just look it up. You shouldn't feel bad, people call us all day long with questions about something that they could very easily look up, but they don't feel like it."

Negotiations

Our union is negotiating with the city and county to amend our contract. We are due our cost of living increase of 8%. They have proposed that we give up all paid holidays, and floating holidays, for two years. They will give us an 3.75% increase in pay, and 9 paid days off to be used over a two year period.

Our floor union representative(the one who forgot to come to work,) said that this is in lieu of layoffs.

I suggest that they encourage those who are close to retirement and don't do any work anyway to retire. I think they should also get rid of all of the others who don't do their job. The employees on each floor of the main and in each branch, should be able to submit names anonymously. If we are able to do this, the budget will definitely decrease for the library salaries. On my floor alone, we would eliminate 4 librarians and 1 clerk.

Laptops, Wi-fi, and patrons

Last Thursday, one of the regulars(who hears voices and acts out,) sat down at one of the laptop tables. He had what appeared to be a square T.oshiba cardboard box. My co-worker said, "He has a brand new laptop."

Me, being hopeful, said, "No, maybe it's just an empty box."

No ladies and gentlemen, he had a brand new laptop. He sat down, opened the box and removed the computer. He pulled out the instructions and began reading them. I thought that we were in for a long afternoon of his non-stop questions. He didn't ask us any questions.

After about 35 minutes of him trying to read and understand the instructions, and yelling in frustration, he called customer service. He spoke to them for a while. After about 1 1/2hr, he left the library. While waiting for the elevator, we heard him yell at himself and slap his hand(REALLY HARD.)

Today, a woman approached me at the reference desk, and asked, "Do you know how to work a Ma.cbook?" I told her no, and went about my duties(We have instructions, but they're only for Ethernet connections.) Two hours later, as she was packing up to go, I noticed that she had a brand new M.acbook Pro. As I was leaving the reference desk, I whispered to my co-worker, "How are you going to purchase one of the most expensive M.acbook's out there and not know how to use it?"

Cover-ups or just plain old erasing

Sundays, we have a bare minimum staff of librarians. Because of this, the floor manager and the supervisors rotate Sundays. This past Sunday, the scheduled supervisor did a no show, no call. My co-worker whom we can never depend on to show up, was there and trying her best to find excuses for the supervisor's behavior. I told her to chalk it up and we'd just have extra hours on the reference desk.

This wasn't going to work for her, because she didn't want to do any extra hours. Although, on the days when she decides to call in "sick," that is what we do. We work around the missing person. So, she called the person who was in charge of the whole building and informed him. He tried to call the supervisor. He told us that she had given the wrong number as her home contact number.

Monday arrives and I discovered that the official desk schedule hadn't been changed to reflect how we actually covered the two reference desks. My co-worker(librarian who looks like me) told me that I should change the original. I went in search of the altered copy, and it was no where to be found. The supervisor in question had entered the staff area from the direction of where the copy was filed. Instead of accusing, I simply made the changes from memory. As I'm doing this, the supervisor with the floor manager in tow, walks over to where I was, and said, "I forgot to come to work yesterday." I said, "WE KNOW!" I walked away. She then says in frustration, "I guess that I'll work today, and I'll take two of Nexgrl's hours. Is that okay." My response was, "Yea, okay." In addition to this, she changed Tuesdays schedule, so that I would only have one hour on the desk.

Catalog/reference headaches

A lot of times, after 1 hour on the reference desk, I need to talk a walk, go outside, something, just get away. The following interaction is an example of what I'm referring to.

Patron: Can you help me find out if the library has a book?

Me: Sure, do you know the title?

Patron: No.

Me: Do you know the author's name?

Patron: No.

Me: Do you know the any of the subjects, that the book might fall under?

Patron: No. Can you just show me how to find a book?

Me: Do you want me to show you how to locate a book on the floor, or in the library
catalog?
Patron: Can you show me how to find a book online?

Me: Do you want to know how to locate a book in our system, or on the computer itself?

Patron: Yes, can you show me how to find a book in your system?

Me: Is there any particular topic that you are interested in?

Patron: (She is with her husband) No, we just want to find a book.

This went back and forth for about 5 minutes, before I took them over to the online catalogs. I had the woman sit down, and showed them the basics. I then gave them a schedule of the free computer training classes offered by the library. I also pointed out to her that they need to take the Basic Online Catalog class.

Appearances can be deceiving

1:00pm, as I approached the reference desk, a hot pink mohawk caught my attention. The owner of the mohawk, a guy in his twenties sitting in front of a laptop, with buds in his ears. Nothing odd or unusual about anything I described, right....He was KNITTING a scarf.

This one had folks laughing this afternoon

This patron yelled, and motioned with his hands, "Hey Miss! Can you come here please? I need help." (I gave him a pass because he has OCD and some other type of disorder.) I walk over there and he says, "I want to go to you.tube and the computer isn't responding."

He had already typed the web address in the browser, so I simply pressed the enter key, and walked away. As I approached the reference desk, he yelled, "Hey, how did that happen, what did you do?" With my back turned, I said, "I pressed the enter key." The other librarian and the other patrons who were paying attention began laughing.

He was salty because my response wasn't timely

Midway into my shift, I usually get a mild stress headache. It always seems to lift once I return to my cubicle.

So this patron who was using a computer two tables away from the reference desk, yells, "Hey, um yeah. Hey. I'm not on the phone, I'm talking to you."

I looked at him, turned my head, paused for a minute, and then decided to get up. I go over to where he is and he's complaining about the government websites being too slow. Well the computer was frozen, and I decided to reboot it. The patron said, "Well, I was through using it anyway!"

Tuesday's biggest missed moment

I was told by my co-workers, that just before I came to the reference desk, a patron had punched another patron in the face. He was punched in the face because he refused to let the other man use his cell phone. The man decided that he wanted it anyway, grabbed the other man, reached for the phone and punched him in the face.

The victim chose not to report the incident to security, or file a police report. He felt that his attacker had mental issues.

I missed one of the best incidents this week

Two of my co-workers went off on each other, while sitting at the reference desk. They are both on medication, it's just that one takes much more than anyone I know.

The Heavily Medicated one told me about the incident two hours after the fact. She accused the other of being an embarrassment to not just her co-workers, but the profession. She also told her that she is tired of listening to her give patrons incorrect information, because she is too lazy to search(our jobs) for the answers. She told her that she cuts patrons off and doesn't listen to the reference questions.
Lastly, she told her that none of her co-workers want to sit at the reference desk because of her ineffectiveness.

Ms.Lazy's counter argument.

She told Heavily Medicated that she is never on time to cover the reference desk. She often misses work, without proper notification.

What I told heavily medicated is that she should have told Ms.Lazy that they were discussing her faults at the moment.

Heavily Medicated said that once she left the reference desk, she went to Ms.Lazy's supervisor and told her about the incident. All the supervisor said was, "I think she needs to hear about her faults from her peers, maybe she will listen."

This was Monday afternoon.

They are making an attempt to have some "Good Press"

One of the local reporters decided to film at our library and on my floor. We were informed the morning of the filming. They wanted to film at the encyclopedia table. When I read the email, I laughed out loud. I guess the PR person for the library isn't familiar with our floor.

The encyclopedia table is where those who hear voices and speak to them
like to sit. They get very upset when other people are sitting in what
they have designated as "their" area.

The filming was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. lucky for me, I just happened to be working at the reference desk. The PR rep. decided to film in the African American center because the area where the encyclopedia table is was too crowded.

When we realized where they were going, my co-worker said that he had just been there and a man had his shoes off. My co-worker said the whole area was funkdified. I have no idea when this news clip will air, and I didn't even stick around to see what the outcome would be.

When someone tries to project their issues onto you

Our floor is unique, there are two African American librarians in my department. I work on the 3rd floor. On the 4th and 5th floors, there is only one African American librarian. I get stares, double takes, and questions like,"Are you really a librarian?" This occurs while I'm sitting at the reference desk, under a sign that says it's the reference desk for my department.

My co-worker(the one who most looks like me,) had been complaining about this young guy bothering him. He told me that the guy had been telling him that he wasn't a real "brother man." He had also been yelling that since he couldn't give him any dap, he wasn't a real "black man."

I hadn't had any interaction with the patron until yesterday. The first time I acknowledged his presence, was to shake my head no at him. He was playing a guitar on the floor. When I shook my head, he motioned that he knew he should be quiet. The second incident came later in the afternoon.

A man was walking onto the floor singing loudly. I was shaking my head no at the man. Since "brother man" was walking behind the patron, he took that motion as me singling him out once more. What did he do? He walked up to me at the reference desk and asked me, "Did you vote for O.bama?" I refused to answer his question. I told him that my voting preferences were my personal business. He began to say that I wasn't a real black person and I probably voted for the other party. He then went over to his girlfriend(who is a becky and they have a baby,) and tell her that I was targeting him. I went over to him and corrected him. I told him that the last time, I had been referring to the gentleman walking in front of him. This guy went back to asking me who I voted for. He said that since I wouldn't tell him how I voted, I was denying my race. I shook my head at him because I couldn't tell him what I was thinking. He had also asked me where I was from. When I told him that I was a native of this city, he said, "That's what your problem is."

My co-worker was frightened by the whole incident and she called security. Security came, asked me who the patron was and spoke to him. They then told me that there wasn't anything they could do, except inform that patron that he couldn't harass the staff. I explained to the security officers that I knew there was nothing they could do, that's why I didn't call them. Old boy, knew there was nothing they could do either, that's why he was acting out.

When I told the other librarian(who looks like me)about this incident, he said the guy had done something similar to him earlier. What I believe has happened to this young man who has been talking all of what he considers pro-black rhetoric, is that he has been harassed for it. I think that he fears those who tease him and takes it out on people who aren't in a position to speak negative to him. I saw the couple outside of the library yesterday and dude didn't say anything to me then.

A virus infected the computers

It began slowly this past Tuesday, sometime after 5:00 p.m. More and more patrons began complaining of strange scrolling messages on their computer screen. I called IT and reported the problem. They asked me to send a requisition form and I did. They said that they were on the problems.

Wednesday morning, 9:00 a.m., more of the same. The only difference is that almost all of the patron computers in the whole building were infected. One of the staff computers at the reference desk even began to show signs of infection. What did IT do, they sent staff an e-mail, stating that they were working on the problem. They also advised us to warn patrons that use of the remaining computers was at their own risk.

Finally, that afternoon, IT began removing the public workstation hard drives. Thursday afternoon, the hard drives were still being cleaned. All day long, patrons were going to the monitors and clicking the mouse that wasn't attached to anything. One of my co-workers said, "It's like watching candid camera."

An apology

Sunday afternoon, the old man from the previous post approached me at the reference desk and said:

"I'm sorry for the other day. I got booked mixed up with available."

I looked at him sideways and said, "Un huh."

No internet connection

I turned on my computer, clicked the "e," and ......nothing. I called tech support, followed all of the mundane instructions and still nothing. I was told to keep my call back line free for 1 hour.

I wanted to tell you about yesterday. I had to get LOUD and act UGLY.
My 1st hour @the reference desk, a patron approached me complaing about a computer. He said that he reserved the computer and it wouldn't allow him access. I said, "Are you sure that you reserved this terminal?". He said, "Yes.". I suggested that we check. It turned out that his reservation was for terminal #308, instead of #309. We walked over to 308 and an old man was sitting there and refused to get up. He was trying to stall until the guy's reservation expired. He told me, "If the computer is reserved, it will tell me so, when I try to log on." I told him that the computer didn't let him log on, so he needed to move. He repeated his speach again. After his third attempt at logging on, I reached around him and shut the computer off. He then turned to me and said, "THAT'S JUST WRONG!". I replied, "NO, WHAT'S WRONG, IS THAT YOU REFUSED TO MOVE. YOU NOW NEED TO MOVE. YOU CAN USE 309, BUT YOU CANNOT USE THIS TERMINAL. MOVE NOW!!!"
All of the patrons were watching the whole thing. It was so quiet when I finished yelling. The next person that I told to stop eating, simply shook her head.

My smelly week recap

Monday

One of the pages was shelving and discovered that a patron had urinated at the end of one of the aisles.

A disgruntled ex-employee returned to the Library for the Blind with a hammer. He was prepared to attack the employee who placed a restraining order against him. Security had to be called because the guy hadn't been served the restraining order yet, because he had been evicted from his last known address.(I found this out Tuesday afternoon.)

Tuesday

Another of the pages came to the desk and complained that a patron with a really strong odor was blocking one of the aisles and he was unable to shelve books. We called security and of course, he couldn't smell anything. I walked the guard over to the aisle and he made the guy leave(the guy was laying on his side taking up half of the aisle, while reading a book.) As I was walking away from the area, I turned to the guard and said, "You still don't smell it?" He said, "No." Then, it hit him. He backed up and said, "Oh DAMN! It just hits you!" My co-worker said, "He has a cloud, just like pi.gpin. The only difference is instead of dirt, it's the smell of urine."

Wednesday

My co-worker was working on a laptop in one of the centers and a patron was watching foreign movies on a DVD player. He was yelling at the screen. When my co-worker told him that he would have to be quiet, the patron told my co-worker he didn't understand English. The patron then went on to point at my co-worker and say that he is stupid and crazy. Security was called and the patron continued to talk about my co-worker. The guard said, "Yeah, but you still have to leave." The patron was yelling and talking about my co-worker until he was out of sight.

Another rainy Sunday

Lucky me,all of the stinky people had reference question just for me.
The smells got so bad that when my co-woker relieved me,she said, "Don't walk to your right when leaving the desk.".

Technology can be a pain

Last Wednesday, IT finally upgraded the staff computers on my floor. Everyone has been complaining about lost favorites and saved programs. Up until today, I hadn't been affected.
I logged onto my computer this morning, I received a message saying that an error had occurred yesterday. All of my favorites were gone. All of my pictures were gone. I spent the bulk of this morning trying to recall blog addresses and save them to my favorites again.
I thought I had missed the computer upgrade malfunction, it was just delayed.

Rainy days are the worst

Tuesdays, I get a ride to work from my Mom. It's her day to volunteer at the hospital and my job is along the route. This past Tuesday, it was raining and cold.

My Mom had asked me to drive to my job, because she wanted to eat her breakfast. The whole drive to work, she was teasing me. "Oh, it's raining and cold, I bet it will be crowded today. I don't mind the crowds, and the crazies, but the SMELL!!" They just smell so bad.

My only response was, "Um huh." All while she was talking about this, I was dealing with people driving crazy and having to brake suddenly because they were speeding and not gently merging into traffic. She then said, "Oh, if I were on my way to a stressful job and the other drivers kept doing me, like they are doing you, I would be highly upset. You seem to be handling it pretty well."

I then said, "Yeah, the other drivers are acting up and you are teasing me about the atmosphere that I will be subjected to while at work. FUN!"

I fell for it again!

A patron appraoched the reference desk. I was relieving my co-worker and he said, "I'll let you handle THIS one.". That should have been my clue.

The patron said that he wanted Lantern Lane. I said, "What about Lantern Lane?" He then said, "I don't know what or where it is.". I conducted an internet search and found that it is a street in Kansas. I showed the patron what I found and he said, "Is that a book? Where can I find it?". I then said, "Oh, you want a book with that in the title?". He said, "Yeah, that's what you do here isn't it, find books."

I searched the catalog and showed him that we don't have a book with Lantern Lane in the title. I told him that there is a fiction book titled Lantern Wife. He said, "Oh, I want that.". I explained that the book is in storage and he would have to request it at the page desk. I also explained where the page desk is, gave him the print out and he went in the opposite direction.
A little later, I had to go to the page desk. I passed the patron mentioned above. He was staring at the bottom of the empty coffee cup that he had been reading from while at the reference desk.
Once again, I was fooled by a "Coocoo for cocoa puffs," trying to ask a sane reference question.

Still able

I went to work last Sunday, even though I felt awful. I knew we always have a tight desk rotation for the librarians. I sounded about as bad as I felt.
Our regular OED man called and said after I answered his question, "YOU SOUND BAD, You need to take care of that." Our resident don't come to work at all librarian even asked me why I came to work. She even asked me if I would be at work on Monday. I explained to her that the desk schedule would be just as tight on Monday. She then said, "I guess you need to not let that be your problem!"

I stayed home on Monday and Tuesday. I came to work on Wednesday and the first thing my supervisor said to me is, "You look and sound bad!". I was actually was feeling better than I had in a few days and told him so.
OED man called and told me, "You sound better, but I know you can sound a WHOLE LOT BETTER!". I said, "Wow thanks!"
This week, I feel better. I'm still congested and sound like it too. I keep hearing, "Oh, YOU SOUND BAD, but you do sound better than you did last week.

These People Have Nothing Better To Do

I saw a patron walking around the floor and mumbling Monday around 5:12pm. He approached my co-worker and said, "All of the computers on this floor are being used. As he walked away from the desk, he said while shaking his head, "THESE PEOPLE MUST HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO.". My co-woker said, "What did you expect, it's a Monday and almost 45 minutes before closing?"
After he walked the floor 1 more time, he approached me. He said, "I have walked all of the floors, and all of the computers are in use! These people must really have nothing else to do."
I just stared at him, until he finally walked away mumbling.

*Dude is here everyday. I don't even know why he said anything to me, because I haven't entertained him with a response any other time.

Butterfly Award

Monique over at The Little Reading Nook chose me as a recipient of the Butterfly Award. It has taken me a minute, but I am finally making an attempt to complete this task. I really don't think that I'm going to pass this on. The authors of the blogs that I read on a regular have done so many of these things. To see the blogs that I love to visit, just look at the ones I have listed on the side.

This is a meme award to be passed on.
The rules are:
1. Post the logo on your blog
2. Add link to the person who awarded it to you
3. Award up to 10 blogs
4. Add links to those blogs in your award post
5. Leave a message for awardee on their blog

If I had to pick the two blogs that I check first daily, they are:

Aunt Jackie
Rashan Jamal

Some people

A patron approached me at the reference desk and said, "Every time I try to log in,
I get the message that says I have entered the wrong card number or pin number."

I asked the patron if he had reserved the computer that he was trying to use, and he said yes. I decided to double check, I just wanted to be sure that he had the correct computer terminal. He said, "I don't have my card, just the number."

He gave me a piece of paper. That should have been the warning flag for me, but no, I wanted to believe that everything was as he stated. I entered the information that was on the paper. I got the same message he did. I then asked him for his California Identification card. I looked his name up in the computer. Well, well, well, his card number was completely different. He said, "That is the correct information on the paper, unless my sister is playing tricks on me again." I gave him his library card number and told him that he can use that to get on the computer. He cursed the computer and side-eyed me while he walked to the other side of the room.

Later some other little off beat people joined him. After about 30 minutes, they left the floor in frustration. That little man had the nerve to side-eye me once again while they walked pass me. He didnt' know it, but I wasnt' in the mood for games yesterday.

As requested..................

I arrived to work @8:35a.m. I thought that I would have trouble gaining access to the staff entrance.

I did see a lot of people, but they were all making a beeline toward the plaza.

I didn't go to the auditorium. I opted to watch online. The librarian who sponsored the event reported that they ended up letting the patrons in at 8:50 a.m. The auditorium quickly became standing room only. Everyone wanted to watch the I.naguration together. Cheers were heard all the way up on the 3rd flr(mine.). It was a peaceful event that even brought out the city librarian.

By the public's reaction, you'd think we were giving out gold bars

Tuesday, the library will show the i.nauguration ceremony in our auditorium. Since we don't officially open until 9:00 a.m.(PST,) they will open the building at 8:45 a.m. Those who want to enter the building early, will need a ticket.

The tickets are being given out at the reference desk on my floor. There is an announcement on our website, it has been in the local paper, and I guess on the local news. People have been coming in everyday, all day, and asking for passes.

Sunday, a woman asked me for 20 passes. We had less than 10 at the desk. The librarian who's co-sponsoring the event said that when they ran out, that would be all. He then changed his mind and said that if there is time, he will request that more tickets be printed. I told the woman that I couldn't give her 20. She then said, "Well, can I have 3 because I want to bring my children." I gave her 3, along with the name and telephone number for the librarian in charge of the event. I gave the man that was with her 2. He then came back Monday evening and asked for 3 more tickets and said that he also wanted to pick up 15 for the woman from Sunday. At that point, we only had 1 ticket left.

Today, a woman called and asked me so many questions about the event, I thought she was writing an article. She asked if we had close circuit televisions, in addition to the projector screen. I looked at the telephone receiver before answering her. When I got off the telephone, my co-worker said, "Is the person writing a book?"

An unsoliticited suggestion

A patron approached me at the reference desk and asked if we have Ethernet cables to loan out. I told her that we didn't. She went on to tell me that we should. She said, "When you go through the trouble of packing up your laptop and coming down here, only to discover that you keep getting bumped off of the WI-fi. Then, you don't have your Ethernet cable. It would really help if you had those. That is my suggestion!"

All I said was okay. I was thinking, "Why, so that those can get stolen?"

No cell phone yesterday

I wasn't able to post about this nonsense, because I left my cell phone in my Mom's car yesterday.

1. A woman calls and says that she wants to read a sentence to me to see which
tense I think she should use. I don't remember the exact sentence, but she was
addressing two people. She wanted to say something to the effect of, "I wish to
send blessings your ways." I told her that the use of way in the singular
sounded better. We went back and forth for a minute, until she finally said,
" I want to know what the correct use of the word in this sentence is!" I told her, "I don't have a degree in English Literature, nor have
I ever taught an English class. Since you are the one composing and sending the
letter, you need to use whatever you feel comfortable with." She then says, "Is
there someone else there who can give me the correct usage of the word?" I put
her on hold and spoke with two of my co-workers. When the other librarian went
to answer the call, she had hung up.

2. A patron rushed up to the reference desk yelling that he needed help with the
computer. One of the lazy librarians who was leaving the desk said, " Oh, my
co-worker will be glad to help you(me.") I followed the patron to his assigned
computer. He stood there and looked at me like, "What are you going to do now!"
I told him to log onto the computer. As he was logging on he said, " I just want
to know how to access my e-mail." The box appeared where you chose which
you want to use. As I was telling the man to click the start button, he opened
up the adobe program. I told him that wasn't the right program. He turned and
yelled, "I HAVE A FLASHDRIVE AND I WANT TO USE IT." That was the point where I
began walking away. The patron said, as I was walking back toward the reference
desk, "AREN'T YOU GOING TO HELP ME?" I said, "I was, until you yelled at me
and told me WHAT TO DO!"