It Happened in Library Land!
It was a normal Saturday in Library Land. Little did we dream that an evil shadow of weirdness was about to infect our customers today (Saturday). The morning was uneventful as folks struggled to wake up and make their way into the Library.
The afternoon started with a visit to the restroom. I discovered dirt in the wash basin and water all over the floor. I concluded that a homeless person must have taken a sponge bath there. While it doesn’t happen often, we have had that happen in the past. I later found out that I was so wrong.
A teen came up to the desk and wanted help with the internet. It seems like the right click function on his computer wasn’t working. He was convinced that if we just gave him the administrative password that the problem could be fixed in no time. I turned him over to our manager who told him that we couldn’t help him. Chances are a rebooting of the computer would have fixed the problem, but it would have caused the time management software to terminate his session. Believe me, he needed his internet fix so that wasn’t an option.
About this time I noticed someone coming out of the restroom. He was carrying two buckets of water. I thought WHATTTTTT???? I checked the restroom and discovered the water carrier was the reason there was water all over the restroom floor. I followed him outside and discovered he was washing his truck on the Library’s parking lot.
Since our manager was working today, I turned the problem over to him. When Paul checked with him, he was told his condo would assess a fee of $150 if he washed his truck there. Naturally, he didn’t see any problem using the Library as a car wash. Paul informed him he could finish, but he couldn’t use any more water from the restroom. The water on the floor posed a risk especially since we didn’t have a custodian on duty that could mop up after him.
Meanwhile, back inside the Library, weirdness struck again. A woman swore up and down that she hadn’t had a library card in over ten years. She couldn’t explain why the computer had pulled up a duplicate record with her exact name, address, and phone number…and a $16.00 fine. Once again our beleaguered manager was brought into the fray.
All was quiet until about 4:10. We looked up and saw a woman walking into the Library with a dog. Now, seeing-eye or service dogs are allowed. But the same courtesy does not extend to cute little Pomeranians. She was informed that no dogs were allowed and without missing a stride turned around and left the building.
The final installment occurred at 4:56 which happened to be four minutes before closing. Another woman came in and spent a minute or two looking over the DVDs. She turned to me and asked me if we had any books on Excel. I told her if we did they would be in the 005s. I took her over to the shelf. She found a book and took it to the front desk to check out. When she was asked for her library card or I.D., she didn’t have any. She said I didn’t know I needed anything to check out a book.
My manager looked at me and said: “You know how you leave me a Saturday weirdness list when you’re the only full timer working on a Saturday. If I hadn’t been here today, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Weirdness happens in Library Land…but today was the weirdest in my Library career.
