Two Month Anniversary

Tomorrow is my two month anniversary for my new position. I'm still waiting for them to hire a manager for the 2nd branch that I supervise. The only answer I've gotten so far regarding the hiring process is, "It takes time." Meanwhile, I'm in limbo. I'm the manager of the 2nd branch, but not really. Their District Manager works in the branch on Mondays. A patron put up a fuss last week because she had received a notice in the mail regarding overdue books. The patron claims that she and her son returned the books on January 3rd. That was one of the bussiest days for processing returned books. The technician who helped the woman cleared her library record of the charges, because the books were found on the shelves(by her, not us.) That wasn't enough, she insisted on speaking to the Branch Manager, not the woman's supervisor. When I walked out of the staff room and approached the woman, there was a brief momment where I saw shock in her eyes. She managed to snap back real quick. She gave her version of the events. I told her that if she was still unhappy with the service at our branch, she could submit a complaint form. That wasn't enough either, because she told me that she wanted someone to personally follow-up on her complaint. I then said that I would attach a letter to the complaint. The letter would be sent to the District Manager. While the woman completed the complaint form, I sat down to compose the letter. As I was typing, the woman said, "Oh, I don't mean to make such a fuss." I thought, yes you do. You just didn't realize that the Branch Manager is a black woman. This week, I've had my first two experiences with the patron who calls and ask you if a DVD is in your library. After you search for the DVD, she then says that she doesn't want to reserve it. She did that twice today. She did it yesterday, Saturday, and Friday. The staff informed me that this was the patron's pattern in the past. It got so bad that upper management spoke with the patron. She could only visit one branch as a result. I guess she feels that enough time has gone by, she can resume her previous behavior.