Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Miss Information worries about the medical profession

A man couldn't find his hold. Well, that's not new.

Recently Miss Information encountered a woman who thought the holds were filed alphabetically. They are not. They are filed numerically by the last four numbers of a person's library card. The hold labels have a big 4 digit number and then underneath in tiny little letters, the first two letters of the patron's surname. No wonder she couldn't find her hold.

Anyway this fellow today came to the desk complaining that his hold wasn't on the shelf. Sometimes they are not but it's rare. Still, Miss Information doesn't like to march over to the shelf and just find the book because that makes people feel stupid. She doesn't like people to feel stupid--even the stupid people.

This hold had been processed the previous day which means it's on the shelf but Miss Information looked in the back room. Nope, no leftover holds there. The man was all ready to leave without his book but Miss Information said she'd take a peek on the shelf just in case.

Obviously the book was in the exact right spot. She picked it up and handed it to him. It was early and she was too cranky to tell her usual lie about the book having been misfiled.

Before she handed it to him she noticed that it is a book for the medical licensing exam. Miss Information supposes that finding things in numerical order doesn't come up that often in the practice of medicine but she likes to think someone about to become a medical doctor can do that sort of thing in their sleep.

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Miss Information is not making this up.

Miss Information actually overheard this conversation while she was peacefully drinking coffee Sunday.

Four women were seated at the table next to her. It was clear that they hadn't seen each other in a while and chatted to catch up. In the course of the chatting one of the women revealed that her cat had died a few months ago. Miss Information was sad for the woman. Her friends were also sympathetic.

One of the women suggested that the bereaved woman check out a wonderful white cat available for adoption in a nearby shelter. One of the other women agreed. She had seen that cat, too. Why it was a wonderful cat! And beautiful, too, the other woman noted.

The bereaved woman declined. While she was certain the cat was awesome, she wasn't convinced it would match her furniture.

Huh? thought Miss Information.
"Huh?" said the women at the table.
Well, yes, said bereaved Betty. When she'd gotten her now deceased cat, which she described as "beige" (who uses beige to describe a cat?) she'd redecorated the house to match and while she wanted a new cat, she simply wasn't ready to get a new couch.

At this point Miss Information would like to mention that while she has often told people that the beautiful black cat she used to have matched her wardrobe better than the current Kitty Information (calico, mostly white and sheddy), she absolutely is never replacing her with another cat, even if that cat does go better with her clothes.