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.".