Catalog/reference headaches

A lot of times, after 1 hour on the reference desk, I need to talk a walk, go outside, something, just get away. The following interaction is an example of what I'm referring to.

Patron: Can you help me find out if the library has a book?

Me: Sure, do you know the title?

Patron: No.

Me: Do you know the author's name?

Patron: No.

Me: Do you know the any of the subjects, that the book might fall under?

Patron: No. Can you just show me how to find a book?

Me: Do you want me to show you how to locate a book on the floor, or in the library
catalog?
Patron: Can you show me how to find a book online?

Me: Do you want to know how to locate a book in our system, or on the computer itself?

Patron: Yes, can you show me how to find a book in your system?

Me: Is there any particular topic that you are interested in?

Patron: (She is with her husband) No, we just want to find a book.

This went back and forth for about 5 minutes, before I took them over to the online catalogs. I had the woman sit down, and showed them the basics. I then gave them a schedule of the free computer training classes offered by the library. I also pointed out to her that they need to take the Basic Online Catalog class.

Appearances can be deceiving

1:00pm, as I approached the reference desk, a hot pink mohawk caught my attention. The owner of the mohawk, a guy in his twenties sitting in front of a laptop, with buds in his ears. Nothing odd or unusual about anything I described, right....He was KNITTING a scarf.

This one had folks laughing this afternoon

This patron yelled, and motioned with his hands, "Hey Miss! Can you come here please? I need help." (I gave him a pass because he has OCD and some other type of disorder.) I walk over there and he says, "I want to go to you.tube and the computer isn't responding."

He had already typed the web address in the browser, so I simply pressed the enter key, and walked away. As I approached the reference desk, he yelled, "Hey, how did that happen, what did you do?" With my back turned, I said, "I pressed the enter key." The other librarian and the other patrons who were paying attention began laughing.

He was salty because my response wasn't timely

Midway into my shift, I usually get a mild stress headache. It always seems to lift once I return to my cubicle.

So this patron who was using a computer two tables away from the reference desk, yells, "Hey, um yeah. Hey. I'm not on the phone, I'm talking to you."

I looked at him, turned my head, paused for a minute, and then decided to get up. I go over to where he is and he's complaining about the government websites being too slow. Well the computer was frozen, and I decided to reboot it. The patron said, "Well, I was through using it anyway!"

Tuesday's biggest missed moment

I was told by my co-workers, that just before I came to the reference desk, a patron had punched another patron in the face. He was punched in the face because he refused to let the other man use his cell phone. The man decided that he wanted it anyway, grabbed the other man, reached for the phone and punched him in the face.

The victim chose not to report the incident to security, or file a police report. He felt that his attacker had mental issues.

I missed one of the best incidents this week

Two of my co-workers went off on each other, while sitting at the reference desk. They are both on medication, it's just that one takes much more than anyone I know.

The Heavily Medicated one told me about the incident two hours after the fact. She accused the other of being an embarrassment to not just her co-workers, but the profession. She also told her that she is tired of listening to her give patrons incorrect information, because she is too lazy to search(our jobs) for the answers. She told her that she cuts patrons off and doesn't listen to the reference questions.
Lastly, she told her that none of her co-workers want to sit at the reference desk because of her ineffectiveness.

Ms.Lazy's counter argument.

She told Heavily Medicated that she is never on time to cover the reference desk. She often misses work, without proper notification.

What I told heavily medicated is that she should have told Ms.Lazy that they were discussing her faults at the moment.

Heavily Medicated said that once she left the reference desk, she went to Ms.Lazy's supervisor and told her about the incident. All the supervisor said was, "I think she needs to hear about her faults from her peers, maybe she will listen."

This was Monday afternoon.

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.".

Technology can be a pain

Last Wednesday, IT finally upgraded the staff computers on my floor. Everyone has been complaining about lost favorites and saved programs. Up until today, I hadn't been affected.
I logged onto my computer this morning, I received a message saying that an error had occurred yesterday. All of my favorites were gone. All of my pictures were gone. I spent the bulk of this morning trying to recall blog addresses and save them to my favorites again.
I thought I had missed the computer upgrade malfunction, it was just delayed.

Rainy days are the worst

Tuesdays, I get a ride to work from my Mom. It's her day to volunteer at the hospital and my job is along the route. This past Tuesday, it was raining and cold.

My Mom had asked me to drive to my job, because she wanted to eat her breakfast. The whole drive to work, she was teasing me. "Oh, it's raining and cold, I bet it will be crowded today. I don't mind the crowds, and the crazies, but the SMELL!!" They just smell so bad.

My only response was, "Um huh." All while she was talking about this, I was dealing with people driving crazy and having to brake suddenly because they were speeding and not gently merging into traffic. She then said, "Oh, if I were on my way to a stressful job and the other drivers kept doing me, like they are doing you, I would be highly upset. You seem to be handling it pretty well."

I then said, "Yeah, the other drivers are acting up and you are teasing me about the atmosphere that I will be subjected to while at work. FUN!"

I fell for it again!

A patron appraoched the reference desk. I was relieving my co-worker and he said, "I'll let you handle THIS one.". That should have been my clue.

The patron said that he wanted Lantern Lane. I said, "What about Lantern Lane?" He then said, "I don't know what or where it is.". I conducted an internet search and found that it is a street in Kansas. I showed the patron what I found and he said, "Is that a book? Where can I find it?". I then said, "Oh, you want a book with that in the title?". He said, "Yeah, that's what you do here isn't it, find books."

I searched the catalog and showed him that we don't have a book with Lantern Lane in the title. I told him that there is a fiction book titled Lantern Wife. He said, "Oh, I want that.". I explained that the book is in storage and he would have to request it at the page desk. I also explained where the page desk is, gave him the print out and he went in the opposite direction.
A little later, I had to go to the page desk. I passed the patron mentioned above. He was staring at the bottom of the empty coffee cup that he had been reading from while at the reference desk.
Once again, I was fooled by a "Coocoo for cocoa puffs," trying to ask a sane reference question.

Still able

I went to work last Sunday, even though I felt awful. I knew we always have a tight desk rotation for the librarians. I sounded about as bad as I felt.
Our regular OED man called and said after I answered his question, "YOU SOUND BAD, You need to take care of that." Our resident don't come to work at all librarian even asked me why I came to work. She even asked me if I would be at work on Monday. I explained to her that the desk schedule would be just as tight on Monday. She then said, "I guess you need to not let that be your problem!"

I stayed home on Monday and Tuesday. I came to work on Wednesday and the first thing my supervisor said to me is, "You look and sound bad!". I was actually was feeling better than I had in a few days and told him so.
OED man called and told me, "You sound better, but I know you can sound a WHOLE LOT BETTER!". I said, "Wow thanks!"
This week, I feel better. I'm still congested and sound like it too. I keep hearing, "Oh, YOU SOUND BAD, but you do sound better than you did last week.

These People Have Nothing Better To Do

I saw a patron walking around the floor and mumbling Monday around 5:12pm. He approached my co-worker and said, "All of the computers on this floor are being used. As he walked away from the desk, he said while shaking his head, "THESE PEOPLE MUST HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO.". My co-woker said, "What did you expect, it's a Monday and almost 45 minutes before closing?"
After he walked the floor 1 more time, he approached me. He said, "I have walked all of the floors, and all of the computers are in use! These people must really have nothing else to do."
I just stared at him, until he finally walked away mumbling.

*Dude is here everyday. I don't even know why he said anything to me, because I haven't entertained him with a response any other time.

Butterfly Award

Monique over at The Little Reading Nook chose me as a recipient of the Butterfly Award. It has taken me a minute, but I am finally making an attempt to complete this task. I really don't think that I'm going to pass this on. The authors of the blogs that I read on a regular have done so many of these things. To see the blogs that I love to visit, just look at the ones I have listed on the side.

This is a meme award to be passed on.
The rules are:
1. Post the logo on your blog
2. Add link to the person who awarded it to you
3. Award up to 10 blogs
4. Add links to those blogs in your award post
5. Leave a message for awardee on their blog

If I had to pick the two blogs that I check first daily, they are:

Aunt Jackie
Rashan Jamal

Some people

A patron approached me at the reference desk and said, "Every time I try to log in,
I get the message that says I have entered the wrong card number or pin number."

I asked the patron if he had reserved the computer that he was trying to use, and he said yes. I decided to double check, I just wanted to be sure that he had the correct computer terminal. He said, "I don't have my card, just the number."

He gave me a piece of paper. That should have been the warning flag for me, but no, I wanted to believe that everything was as he stated. I entered the information that was on the paper. I got the same message he did. I then asked him for his California Identification card. I looked his name up in the computer. Well, well, well, his card number was completely different. He said, "That is the correct information on the paper, unless my sister is playing tricks on me again." I gave him his library card number and told him that he can use that to get on the computer. He cursed the computer and side-eyed me while he walked to the other side of the room.

Later some other little off beat people joined him. After about 30 minutes, they left the floor in frustration. That little man had the nerve to side-eye me once again while they walked pass me. He didnt' know it, but I wasnt' in the mood for games yesterday.