Miss Information is in a bad mood.
Miss Information is in a bad mood. She is scheduled to go on a fabulous vacation in a couple of weeks and is once again injured. For those of you keeping track, this would be her second injury in a month. She is still suffering from the knee injury caused by falling off her shoes and now she’s done something to her Achilles tendon. In a perfect world, people would respect her physical pain and emotional distress and leave her alone with her ice pack. But no, this is the library and it isn’t even close to perfect.She appeared for her regularly scheduled internment at the reference desk with plans to print payroll reports and try to sort out that whole annoying mess. She was greeted by a big ominous out of order sign on the staff printer. Since it was working yesterday she wonders what the problem is. Oh, says one of her co-workers, the cartridge is leaking. It may be defective.
So, printer cartridge fairy called in sick today, or what? No, Miss Information has forgotten. She’s the only one who ever changes the damn cartridges, the others prefer to just shake the cartridge until the print quality is just slightly darker than snow. At this point, someone (no, wait, it’s pretty much always Miss Information) decides that it would be nice if the printed documents could actually be read and changes the damn cartridge. It really isn’t that friggin’ difficult. You take the old one out and put the new one in. How hard is that?
Miss Information hobbles down to the printer cartridge place, locates the correct cartridge which isn’t that easy—you have to be able to read labels--and fixes the printer.
Seething over that little adventure, Miss Information takes out her anger on the customers. It’s wrong, she realizes, but who asked them to come to the library when she’s in a bad mood?
A customer comes to the desk. Mistake. It seems he had booked time on the computer but his watch stopped and he missed his appointment. Too bad. Miss Information offers to schedule a new appointment. Guy is too important to wait. He needs time now. Too bad all the computers are in use. Guy insists Miss Information get him some time now. He seems to suspect that she was somehow involved in his watch malfunction. Miss Information looks at the people slowly typing resumes, slowly typing letters, slowing filling out college applications. Obviously these people have no future, whereas impatient guy is clearly very important. However, Miss Information is in a bad mood. Too bad, impatient guy! She refuses to kick off somebody who has legitimately booked time and whose watch was working correctly.
The rest of the day involved gangs of evil children who truly believe that spending all day watching YouTube videos is a constitutionally protected right.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.
5 Comments:
Hah! I just came across your blog. I'm a library clerk in a children's library. It would be fine, if only....there were no people there! It's especially great when they sneeze on a book before handing it to you, or pee on the floor in the bathroom! I think I would be happier if I could just deal with the books and machines and NO people!
Simply out of idle curiosity ... Has Miss Information, at any point in her life, ever behaved like ImPatient Guy??
Oh,I know how you feel. No-one else matters to someone who must check their email THIS INSTANT. The rules that are posted regarding sign up and the consequences for being late...those are for those OTHER people. Mmmm. Working the weekend on the long weekend makes me happy.
Re: The comment by anonymous #2
I've never met Miss Information but I'm pretty certain she has never behaved like Impatient Guy. Once you have worked in a library you become sensitive as to how you interact with other people in serice postions. I once was helping a man and his daughter find a book for a school project and a woman burst in saying "I'm sorry to interupt you, but my request is important". When I said, I would help her as soon as I finsihed with the little girl she swore at me and called me rude.
Is Impatient Guy related to my patron, Entitled Guy? I work in a reference collection. Our stacks are off limits to the public. Entitled Guy comes in with his daughter and announces that she would like to "scan the shelves" of our holdings of a certain author. I explain that the stacks are closed but that I will be happy to bring out anything she asks for. This is not good enough. He repeats the request, with the slight alteration that since the stacks are accessible only by staff, would I then please escort his daughter to the relevant area in the stacks and wait while she makes her selection.
Um, no. The "Staff Only" sign is there for a reason. But I will be happy to bring out any book she asks for. OK, not happy, but I'll do it.
Not good enough. Oh, dear. Another dissatisfied customer.
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