Scenes from Tuesday - I only worked 4 hours

Preface: This is a Tuesday after I have been off for 4 days straight. Below are just the highlights. To make this day just a little more interesting, our printer was printing a black line on everyone’s documents so we were having to print most things behind the desk and have the patron pay up front then come back with a stamped receipt and we print it out. Normally we would have the printer rerouted but the person that could do that was not in that day.

 

SCENE 1

Female Patron: I think the computer double booked me and this guy on the same computer.

Me: Okay, let me check, no, the computer is available and only has your reservation on it.

So I go over to the computer and there is a man sitting there and he refuses to leave. He has a heavy accent (I think he is African) so I am having a hard time understanding him. The more he talks the more upset he gets and the harder it is for me to understand him.

Male Patron: I am supposed to have the computer for 1 hour.

Me: Okay, well, what happened, did you get logged in at all or did your reservation expire before you got a chance to log in.

Male Patron: Look at my slip, what does it say? Does it not say 1 hour?

Me: Yes, it does but I need to know if you ever got logged on and if so what happened.

Male Patron: I was on and the computer shut down, I have finished what I was doing and I am not trying to stop her from using the computer but I want to know what happened.

Me: Okay well since it is already reserved for her next, let’s move so she can use it and then we can figure out what happened.

Male Patron: NO! You go and find out what happened to my session.

Me: Sir, there is no way for me to know what happened to your session unless you tell me. Did you see a message of any sort before it shut down or did it just shut down?

Male Patron: No, I was checking something on my phone and then the computer was off!

Me: So you stepped away from the computer for a while or you weren’t using it for a while?

Male Patron: NO! You go and find out.

So I go and check to see if the system says he ended his session early because that is all it is going to tell me, not what he was looking at or any other information. While I am checking the female patron comes over and she says…

Female Patron: You know, it isn’t that serious. Can I just move to another computer? I am not going to argue over a computer for real.  (BLESS HER).

So I put her on another one and here comes king Africa.

Me: Sir, it shows that your session ended due to inactivity, if you are not using the computer for about 5 minutes, it will shut down so if you stopped to go make a call it would have shut down while you were gone.

Male Patron: NO! You need to get these computers checked. I did not do anything, it just shut down.

Me: I sure will.

Um fool you told me you stopped to check something on your phone. Plus you said you were finished anyway but you are still here yelling at me when you really don’t even need anything. GO HOME!

 

SCENE 2:

A little girl who couldn’t be more than 7 years old comes up to the desk crying that she can’t find her mom. My manager goes to her and tries to calm her down and assures her that we will find her mom for her. They walk around the whole library and don’t see anyone she knows. So my manager tells me to send a message to all the computers asking if any of them are missing a child. Before I get to do that the little girl sees her sisters. There are 2 or 3 others with the oldest looking to be maybe 13 and she is carrying a toddler. My manager and the children’s librarian gather that the mother has just dropped them off and apparently has instructed them not to give out their ages, etc. They call the home number and don’t get any one and the children don’t seem to know their mother’s cell.

#1 The library is not a day care, we do not have activities set up to occupy your children all day. Nor do we provide meals/snacks or nap areas.

#2 Why would you tell your children not to give out your info? What if something happened to them?

#3 When were you planning to come back to get them?

#4 See the 3^rd and final scene below and then think again about leaving your child in the library. You never know who else will be there and what if you child had walked up to this nut instead of one of us?

 

 

SCENE 3

I have about 10 minutes left before I clock out and I am counting down! A lady walks up to me smiling. I smile back (believe it). I have no idea where my manager is and I am the only 1 at the desk.

Me: Hello, how are you?

Woman: I am fine, thank you for asking. She continues to stand there smiling, looking around.

Me: Can I help you find anything?

Woman: This is my 1^st time in here. (bullshit! I have seen your ass before). Still standing there smiling.

Me: Well, do you need to use a computer or do you want help finding a book?

The woman is still standing there smiling and looking around.

Woman: Car breaks down

Woman: Jumping Jacks

Woman: Do those words mean anything to you?

Me: No, unless the jumping jacks mean you are telling me I need to exercise.

She is still standing there smiling

Woman: I’m sorry, I’m a pastor, and those are the words that are coming to me for you.

A young man walks up and just stands there. So I ask him if I can help him since she isn’t saying anything. She tells me that is her son. Then she tells him he needs a guest pass for the computer. I give him one and he says something to her like, “do you know I am staying”. Then he asks her what she is doing. She says she is working on something as she continues to stand in front of me smiling and holding 2 white binders to her chest.

Woman: You have about a week to pull it all together.

Woman: Can I have a piece of paper and an ink pen. (I want to say get it out of your binder)

Me: Sure, do you need scrap paper? Whole or small sheet?

Woman: I need a whole sheet; it is a note for you.

I see my manager, it is now 2 o’clock! I give her the deuces!

On my way out I stop and talk to another co-worker and she asks if I saw the woman with the 4 plats in her hair, I say yes and tell her what she says. She was like well she came back over here in the work area and told me she loved me.

Yeah! I’m out, glad I am off on Wed. May never come back.