It was already bad, but ........

I had just finished telling my co-worker that I wasn't feeling well. Dealing with messy patrons was not something I felt like dealing with.

One of the pages came over to tell me that he had awakened a patron who then began cursing at him.

I walked with the page back toward where the patron was sitting. As I approached the patron, he began yelling at the page that he didn't have to go and tell on him.

I explained to the patron that the page was only doing what I or any other staff member would have done when he woke him up. The patron was yelling, "YALL AIN'T BOTHERING NONE OF THESE OTHER PEOPLE! WHY DID HE HAVE TO POINT ME OUT?"

I said, "You were sleeping and it's against the library rules and regulations to sleep inside of the library." I repeated this at least 3 times, because the patron kept asking why he had to be awakened.

He then said, "I just got off work, and I was trying to get some sleep before I got on BART." For the 4th/5th time, I said, "Sleeping isn't allowed inside of the library!"

The whole time that I was talking to the patron, he kept cursing at the page. I finally walked back toward the reference desk, so that I could call security. The patron apologized to me as I was walking away. He said that he wasn't cursing at me, he was taling to him(the page.)

Well........I never made that call to security........because when I got about 5 aisles away........ I heard, "Step up then!!" Who said that you ask?.......... The page said that. I turned around and rushed back toward the patron because I knew those where fighting words.

What do I see? The patron was in the page's face yelling for him to do something. I jumped in between them. Facing the patron, I said, "You will not be DOING anything in here. You have two choices, 1. Sit back down, or 2. Leave. I don't care which one you choose, but you won't be doing anything else."

He yells at me, "Why are you talking to me, you need to be talking to him(the page.)"

I told him that I would speak to the page, but I first had to take care of him. The patron was still lunging toward the page. Then all of a sudden, he turned, got his stuff and said he was leaving.

I got right in front of him, walking backwards, to make sure he didn't sneak in a punch to the page. As we passed the page, he lunged toward him (with me right with him, blocking the page,) and said, "Fu*k yo job and see me outside. I bet I whoop yo a*s."

I once again, began guiding the patron toward the elevators. He was cursing the page the whole time, but I stayed on him, nudging him forward. When we got about halfway, my co-worker approached us and said, "I think it's best that you just leave. The elevators are that way."

The patron replied, "Fu*k you,BITCH!" My co-worker said, "I'm calling security on you!" The patron told him, "CALL THEM FAG*OT!"

An elderly African American woman was standing at the reference desk and she said, "You need to just go ahead and leave." The patron told her, "You a B*tch too, because you taking the fag*ot's side." We had finally made it to the elevators, when my supervisor arrived.

The patron asked him if he was a manager. My supervisor said that he is(he's the acting floor manager because our mgr is on vacation.) The patron told him that he wanted to complain about the page because he threatened him.

Thankfully, security stepped off the elevator at that time and took over. The patron went into the security office to file a complaint against the page. I had to file a incident report. My co-workers kept asking me all day, "Were you scarred? Are you okay?" I kept telling them that I was fine because the patron wasn't directing anything at me. I was only involved because it's our job to protect the page staff.

I knew the page didn't know what he was doing/saying, when he told the patron to step up. It turns out, the page was trying to tell the patron to step up and be a man. As I completed the incident report, my supervisor explained to the page what step up means to certain individuals.

The page kept apologizing to all of the librarians involved in the incident and especially me.

Ummmm......And That Makes You Special .....Really

I took 3 days off, so I've been gone from this place for 5 days. My first day back, my first hour at the reference desk had just ended. My co-worker who had come to relieve me, went to wake up a patron.

The interaction was taking a little longer than usual. It turns out the 20-something didn't think the library's rules applied to him, because according to him, he's not homeless. SAY WHAT NOW???

As she awakened the patron from his sleep, she informed him that patrons aren't allowed to sleep in the library. His response, "Oh, but I'm not homeless!"

With a straight face, she informed him once again, that sleeping isn't allowed in the library.

Aggressive Panhandler

Yesterday, the floor manager asked when he came to the reference desk to relieve me, if security had been inside the Education Center. I told him that I had seen the security guard, but I didn't see him go toward the Education Center.

He told me that there was a man in there eating and he had called for a security guard to speak with him.

I'm in charge of the Education Center, so I went to see if the guy was still in there. I had sent a woman in there to look at some college handbooks and I wanted to make sure he wasn't bothering her.

We have a two-sided sign on the table in the Education Center that says you can only be in the room if you are using the education reference materials.

The woman wasn't in there. I see the guy and he's slouched and eating. He has broken chips and crumbs all down the front of his jacket. I asked him if he was using the materials in the room. He shows me a magazine that was from another floor. I told him that he could only be in there if he was using the materials in that room, while showing him the sign. As he was speaking, I noticed food in his mouth. I told him that eating wasn't allowed inside the library. He told me don't insult him and myself. He also stated that a security officer had already been in there to speak with him, so he didn't understand why I was bothering him.

This man stands across the street from the library almost everyday. He isn't there payday(the 1st of the month,) and about 2-3 days afterward. Every time he sees me, he asks me for money. I give him none. He then says that I know I can give him some money. I usually look at him like he's crazy. He will then tell me that I don't need to look at him like that.

When he comes into the library, he is always breaking the rules. When I catch him and tell him that what he's doing isn't allowed, he always talks loud and tries to go off. I will call security and he usually leaves before they get there. He will not say anything to me outside after he's had outburst in the library.

I told my co-worker that he's going to catch me on the wrong day and I'm going off on him. He only talks smack to the black folks when they don't give him any money or pay any attention to him.

What did you say?

This white woman walked up to me at the refence desk and said, "I'm not a RACIST, YOU ARE! Can you tell
me where I can find the St*r W*rs graphic novels?"

I steeped back and gave her a side-eye(the Assistant Chief of the library and my Floor Manager were standing near me.)

I walked toward the books and the woman was still standing at the reference desk. I told her
that she needed to follow me. I walked over to the teen graphic novel shelves and pointe out the St*r W*rs gn's.

What I learned while trying to grill this evening

I went to a BBQ two Sundays ago, and I went to another one this past Saturday. Those two events inspired me to BBQ today. This isn't something I do often, because I hate the way the smell gets in your clothes and your hair. I just end up feeling grimy.

On to what I learned. I lit the charcoal bricks and the flames grew fast. I threw the cover on the grill and the flames died just as fast. I mean very few bricks glowing. Those that were glowing, were barely hanging on. These were the pre-treated bricks. You are supposed to be able to light them and not worry about your fire.

The fire kept going in and out. I tried lighting paper and tossing it in with the charcoal, nothing happened.

Finally, I asked my Mom what did they do before lighter fluid. She told me that her grandmother threw bacon grease on charcoal before lighting it. We didn't have any bacon grease. Low and behold, vegetable oil works just as good. That fire was burning in no time flat. The smell isn't as gross as that of lighter fluid.