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.