I take back all the nasty things I thought about reference. It is actually completely hilarious. On Saturday, I had a woman call from Florida because it was 3 in the afternoon here and her libraries were already closed but she knew we'd be open. She had a question about a street in Akron, OH. A woman with throat cancer called to find a date for her "beautiful niece, really gorgeous, she's sixty but looks forty and I want to find her a man while she's here. Or a woman. Whatever. She's beautiful though, I'm not just saying that because she's my niece". Who calls the reference desk to find a date???
I had a patron insult me because I was "too young to help, you don't look like you know anything" but an (older) coworker backed me and said that I actually knew more than she did about the topic the woman was asking for. The patron was really bitchy though and very funny.
A woman called because her husband had just died and the memorial was coming up and she had seen a praying mantis and what did that mean? Granted there are the tedious investment questions interspersed but it is mostly a cavalcade of amusing inquiries and I find I will quite miss it. After only a week or two!
However, people are so unrelentingly full of shit! A guy wanted a temporary pass for the computer, then handed me an expired out-of-state id. When I told him that wouldn't work he gave me a different state id. I asked how long he was staying and he said he just moved here. I told him he needed to get a library card then, and he said he was just visiting. I looked him up in III (our computer system ) and found a card with the same name/birthdate. I told him he had a card and he said no, that must be my brother, yeah. I asked if his brother had the same name and birthday and he ignored that and asked if he could get a new card. Librarians are NOT stupid. We have degrees and a significant amount of higher education. Do not lie repeatedly to our faces.
There are heroic occasions as well. One of men who works in the computer center here was on a break outside when he heard a woman scream and found himself chasing a purse-snatcher. He got the purse back. Bravo! But then we have our regular hooker and her pimp, a man she claims not to know when questioned, yet they always show up and leave together. Hmm . . . Zelda asked for a copy of our library rules of conduct to incorporate into her stand-up act since she finds the "emanating an odor that can be detected from six feet away" as grounds for ejection too good to resist. It might be funny if it weren't a necessary modifier.
But I will soon be leaving all of this behind. Sort of. I am looking forward with mingled pleasure and apprehension to a weekend in Sacramento with my little sister, staying here and looking for a more permanent domicile. Wish me luck, the kitties and I need a new home!
A library is an arsenal of liberty. - Unknown
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2 comments:
Hmm. It has been my experience that the best thing to feed your pet cat is your forearm.
Is that true?
Is this a question you've had before at Reference?
I hope the home-hunting in Sacramento was fruitful. I am curious how your library enforces the odor at 6 feet rule--who's the poor sap who has to tell someone that he/she reeks from more than 6' away?!
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