Miss Information is annoyed with familiarity
Miss Information is happy to report that the hair situation is improving. It must be. Last week a patron looked at her in horror, "Is that your hair?" she gasped in disbelief. Miss Information tried to look at it as a compliment...and failed.This morning though two (2) different and unrelated women both said they liked her hair. No room for misinterpretation there.
Her hair may be closer to fabulous this week, but other problems have surfaced. A customer asked for a natural facelift book. "I need exercises to tighten up my face," she said. "See, I have these wrinkles...oh, look...you have the same ones. They're exactly like the wrinkles you have!"
As much as this was intended to be a friendly, womanly bonding experience, Miss Information was not going to play along. Seriously, insulting the nice library lady by pointing out her physical flaws is not going to get you the service you may want.
It does, however get you the service you deserve.
2 Comments:
The Reader can think of no comment to make on Miss Information’s latest post, so will digress to a different topic.
Why is a person who utilizes a library called a `patron??’ A patron is someone who financially supports an institution. A museum has patrons, the symphony has patrons: individuals or businesses who donate money and/or time to keep the organization running.
A library patron, by contrast, does not donate money. Even if he occasionally pays a late fee, it’s not a donation. And, as Miss Information has pointed out repeatedly, he does the opposite of donating time. He takes time away from the library staff.
It would be more accurate to call the guy buying a six-pack at Quikee-Mart a patron. At least he’s providing financial support to the store.
The Reader proposes that a library user be referred to by a more descriptive term. (He feels the word `user’ itself is not appropriate since both the computer and drug cultures have usurped it.)
Here are a few suggestions:
Barbarian
Boob
BookMonger
Borrower
Buzzer
Bwana
Capper
Character
Client
Handler
Higgler
Jerk
John
Rutter
Schmuck
Sadly, The Reader realizes none of those exactly fit the bill. Perhaps we’ll have to stick with patron after all.
I have an aunt that backhandedly points out flaws you weren't aware of. Apparently I have inherited the unfortunate "family neck", which, until she pointed it out, I thought was fine. Now I wear a turtleneck with eyeholes cut in it.
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