Friday, July 29, 2011

It Might Be Cheaper Revisited

I had a gentleman (His manner reminded of Hercule Poirot as played by David Suchet.) this week who was somewhat frustrated that he couldn't have all the movies he requested to come in at the same time. I explained that we do the best we can to get them as soon as possible, and the variables are - is it already checked out, is there a waiting list, where is it located, has staff been able to pull it yet, and has our runner already been for pick up that day. He explained to me the math for his gas and driving time that worked out to $.50/movie. Then he told me that if he couldn't get them all at once, driving back and forth multiple times made it closer to $1 a piece, and he might as well go to Redbox. This was not said in an "I'll take my business elsewhere" way, just as an explanation. I imagine this senior citizen is pretty concerned about managing his fixed income. I explained that we hold all requests for 5 days from when they come in, and perhaps it would work best to wait and come on the 5th day after the 1st notification. That would give time for more items to come in and be there when he did drive over. Well, perhaps. And he supposed he could always pick from what was on the shelf to round out his quota.
I tell ya, after the guy who was so mad about the paper, this man's logical penny pinching just made me smile. Maybe it's the Scotch in me.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Bookmarks I Have Known

This will be a continuing series on the odd things people use for bookmarks and forget to take out of the books before they return them.

Today's special find was the peel-off backing from a feminine product. I must say that this is a step up from finding a used counterpart left in a book a few years back.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

It Might Be Cheaper Than the Gas to Drive Here

Okay, you come to the 'berry to read the local paper. You drive all. the. way. here. to read the paper. Every day. And you're upset because every day there seem to be pieces missing. Not always the same piece, or pieces. And you want the daily local paper held behind the counter so people will quit "stealing pieces of it." Now, we haven't noticed at the end of the day, when we collect it, that it seems to be light. At least, not on a regular basis. It happens. Sure. But we also know that the homeless guys hanging out during the day divvie it up and swap sections with each other so that no one hogs the whole thing. And this is a public lieberry. Free for the public to use. The papers, even the ones behind the counter (Sunday editions, 'cause we keep losing the classifieds), are a first come first served item. So even if we did that, Frank the homeless guy would still get it first to share with his buddies. You know, with the price of gas, and the average trip to the 'berry for the area we serve, and let's throw in the nasty emissions from your gas guzzler (Cuz if you're this cheap, you did NOT go get a new low emission car with the cash for clunkers program!), maybe you should get a subscription to the paper and savor your very own copy at home.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Every Time I Look at You I Go Blind

There was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much boobage in the 'berry today! I still am searching for a way to purge some of the images. *shudder* Since so many do not understand how to manage their girls, here are some basic rules:
1) Bigger than a B cup MUST wear a bra. The only exceptions are not in public. They are at home with yo man! Don't ask me "What about bathing suits?" They build 'em into those now, too.
2) If your halter dress yanks your sagging girls into a shape resembling those obnoxious truck nuts, you have to get rid of it.
3) I should never, ever know that your nipples are pointing straight down at the floor.
4) If you are bigger than a B cup, those tube-top sundresses are not allowed in your closet. We have yet to see you wear it with a strapless bra. Those pasties you stick inside to keep your nips from showing don't hold you up. And, nobody wants to see your bra rising up from it. Ah ah ahh! See rule #1. You do NOT get to go without! (And really now, it is NOT attractive to see your Panera muffies sliding down onto your stomach!)
5) We do not live in the African bush, the Australian outback, or some obscure part of the Amazon rainforest. You are NOT allowed to wear a top that while managing to cover the parts that would get you arrested for indecent exposure, your sagging tatas drag it down to show me your torso a good 4 inches past where a bra should be!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Appropriate Behavior

My supervisor pointed out this week that there are 4,886,482,940,000 sq feet of dry land on Earth for children to run in/on. Then he asked, "Why does it seem that they only want to do it in the 16,400 sq feet of our 'berry?"
When I shared this with friends, there was a general consensus that kids don't know how to act in public anymore. Some questioned "Where are the parents?" Frequently, there are no parents with them, or they're busy on a computer. 99% of the time, those on the computers are NOT job hunting, applying for student loans or anything other than social networking. Don't get me wrong. They have every right to play games and chat on facebook, blackplanet or watch videos on youtube. I just don't think they have the right to allow their children to run wild while they do it.
I've heard the comment "They(the children) know better! They don't act like that in school!" Have you BEEN in a classroom lately??!!! They sure as heck DO act like that in school! Just ask a teacher.
I've said myself there's no 'home training' anymore.
And there's the problem. The general public has certain ideas about how you should behave in certain settings. But when a 'berry worker tries to enforce POSTED GUIDELINES, they are often yelled at by the parent for daring to reprimand their child. This reaction crosses race, gender and income. I blame it on the 'my child can do no wrong' for some, and parental ignorance of how to act themselves for others. When the parent complains to management or admin, it never fails that the worker was in the wrong.

See, I work for a system that reinforces bad behavior, where any time someone doesn't like what I tell them (no matter how correct I am in fact and delivery) I am rude and unhelpful. We are are told, and internally TRAINED, that we need to understand their 'culture', and stop judging and forcing our expectations on them. We should realize that they may not really know of how to parent, and it's normal for their 3yr old to wander off out of sight among strangers. Huh?
I've been through Ruby Payne Training(Understanding the Culture of Poverty). I understand the variations of behaviors between socio-economic classes. I've learned the viewpoints that allow me to better communicate with folks from a different background. But nowhere in that training did they say that detrimental and disruptive behavior be accepted! We were told how to lead people to the socially accepted norm. How to gently educate them about our guidelines. This usually includes, "You probably didn't know, but there's no eating/sleeping/talking on the cellphone in the 'berry." Great. Good.
Okay, so now we've been gentle and kind and understanding. Now that 4 staff members have told your 8-10yr old child that running is not allowed in the 'berry, you're going to yell at us because we told you they have to sit with you or leave?

Well, you probably didn't know, but yelling abuse at us isn't allowed in the 'berry, and if you don't stop, the security officer with escort you out!
Call me rude.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Well, I finally did it.

I've been posting on facebook, for around a year now, about the craziness of working in a public library. It's kinda therapeutic for me to find the ridiculousness of the situations instead of being angered by them. I get a handful of friends who comment on the posts online. But then I have lurkers who never post, never 'like' a post, and rave when they see me about how hilarious my "'berry stories" are. I've been told "Write a blog!" "Write a book!" So, I did it. I'm starting this blog for the 'berry stories. But really, it's only a way to see how many people are actually reading them. ;p