Wednesday, November 11, 2015

A patron is out to get me


My branch has been open for 2 years, it will be 3 in February 2016.  A male patron who has been frequenting the branch for almost a year has decided that he wants me fired.
On many occasions, he has entered the branch and said something inappropriate to me in an effort to get a reaction out of me.  Most times, I would just look at the patron like he is crazy and keep it moving.
For the past few months, he has been sitting in a chair facing the reference desk and just starring at me.  Since sleeping is not allowed in any of our libraries, I walk the branch waking patrons and informing them of this Patron Guideline.  If the sleeping patron is someone that I have told about the guideline before and awakened more than once,  I tap the chair or knock on the table until they awaken.  I don't stop to inform them of the guideline again, I just keep walking.

The guy mentioned above has begun to fake sleeping.  When I approach the chair that he is sitting, he will open his eyes and exclaim that he was not sleeping.  Because of this, I began waiting until he begins to snore before I approach him.

Four weeks ago the scenario above occurred.  When I woke the patron, he yelled, "I AM GOING HOME ANYWAY!"  I didn't say anything in response, I just turned around and walked toward the reference desk.  The patron continues to yell, "OH, YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME?  I DO HAVE A PLACE AND IT'S PAID UP TOO!"  I didn't say anything, but I raised my hand in a stop sign motion, in the hope that the patron would stop talking.  I returned to the reference desk and he was still talking.  I never made a comment on anything that he had said.  I honestly don't care.  My only concern was and continues to be that he thinks that he can sleep in the library.
Well, homeslice went to another branch, bad mouthed me and submitted a complaint form about me.  He said that I don't know how to speak to patrons and I am in need of customer service training.

This is the same patron who has walked in the branch on many occasions and yelled, "I like messing with her, just to see what she will do!"  When I would look up, he would be looking directly at me while saying those words.

One Thursday night when I was closing the branch doors, this patron tells my co-worker that we haven't seen him because he got a job working at Wa* Ma*t.  He then announces, "Me and her gon get married."  I looked up and he was pointing at me.  I chringed, turned and speed walked away.

So after not getting the desired reaction out of me.  The patron who has been harassing me for months, decides that I need to be fired.  He lodged a complaint about my branch this week on a day when I wasn't even at work.