Our A/C went off yesterday due to a brief power outage. I duly reported it in the prescribed manner (an email to the facilities manager, his assistant, and my supervisor), thinking someone would be out yesterday afternoon to start it back up again. No dice.
Sent another email early this morning, this time marking it urgent. Nothing.
Finally, about an hour before we were due to open, I frantically called the facilities manager, who said he had not seen either of my emails. He promised to call the city buildings people to get someone out here, but he couldn't say when they would arrive. He had no explanation as to why nobody else who had also received my emails had done anything about the situation.
We tried to wait patiently for someone to get here to fix it. Right before we were supposed to open, there was still nobody here to work on the A/C. It was still stiflingly hot (84 degrees) in the building, so I made a desperate call to my boss, who finally agreed (after some pleading on my part) to let us delay opening for an hour.
There was a crowd of people at the door waiting to get in, so a staff member went out to put up signs and explain what was going on. She was stopped by a guy in an A/C repair uniform who handed her his card and, in halting English, said "I fix A/C?" Thinking this is the repair guy from the city, she brought him to me. Now I don't speak Spanish, but luckily we have a staff member who does, so she was brought in to interpret. Turns out he was just an enterprising soul trying to drum up some business! I can just imagine me letting him at our A/C unit and him charging us hundreds for fixing it. I'd have been fired, I think.
Finally the city people showed up just before we were supposed to open and FLIPPED A BREAKER to get the A/C restarted. I asked them to show me where this breaker was (I had already been up there and could not figure it out) but they refused, insisting that we are not authorized to TOUCH anything on the A/C units.
So this is almost guaranteed to happen again. I hate having to deal with building problems, and we have plenty of 'em, I can tell you. But I'll leave that for another post.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
How to feel good about life again (at least for a little while)
Teach a class, any class, as long as you like what you're teaching.
I was so bummed this morning about the inevitable decline of libraries that I could barely drag myself to work. I groaned when I arrived and realized I had scheduled myself to teach a PowerPoint class.
My branch offers a regular series of free introductory computer classes every month, starting with basic mouse and keyboard skills and progressing on to Word, Excel, Internet, Email & PowerPoint.
I usually feel very stressed when I'm scheduled to teach. But invariably, as the class is progressing, I remember how rewarding it is to feel like you're doing something concrete to help people. When the tough-looking tattooed guy in the front row said "That is just so cool!" after I showed the class how to create neat transitions between slides, I felt pretty damned good.
So yeah, if you feel crappy, teach somebody something and I guarantee it'll make ya feel better. :-)
I was so bummed this morning about the inevitable decline of libraries that I could barely drag myself to work. I groaned when I arrived and realized I had scheduled myself to teach a PowerPoint class.
My branch offers a regular series of free introductory computer classes every month, starting with basic mouse and keyboard skills and progressing on to Word, Excel, Internet, Email & PowerPoint.
I usually feel very stressed when I'm scheduled to teach. But invariably, as the class is progressing, I remember how rewarding it is to feel like you're doing something concrete to help people. When the tough-looking tattooed guy in the front row said "That is just so cool!" after I showed the class how to create neat transitions between slides, I felt pretty damned good.
So yeah, if you feel crappy, teach somebody something and I guarantee it'll make ya feel better. :-)
The beginning of the end
Lots of people have said that public libraries will soon go the way of the dinosaur as advances in technology change the way we get information and entertainment. Web-based social networking offerings such as MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, Flickr, wikis, YouTube, Google, podcasting, etc., etc., etc., are becoming more and more important in people's daily lives. Even Amazon's Kindle is providing a different approach to reading that moves away from the traditional paper book.
Public libraries recognize this and are scrambling to remain relevant in this changing environment, but it's an uphill battle to prove we can provide real value to the community, especially as funds get tighter and tighter in these tough economic times.
My first indication that we are losing the fight was a recent announcement by our city's IT department that they want us to consider reducing the number of public computers we offer in order to reduce bandwidth demands on the network. We all laughed when we heard this but in fact this is exactly the kind of approach that will kill us in the long run. At a time when we should be looking for ways to increase our ability to provide fast, robust online services that are up-to-date with developing technology, our wonderful city government is making noises about curtailing our ability to provide those services.
Free computing is increasingly becoming the main reason why many people visit us, but if we reduce the quality of computing services, fewer and fewer people will come in, which will make it even that much harder for us to justify requests for adequate funding just to keep the building open and provide materials that people need. It's the beginning of a downward spiral towards irrelevance.
Already the quality of our computing services has gone down just in the last year. Our computers are several years old and constantly freeze up when people are trying to do email, take a test, or fill out a form. Repeated calls to IT have not improved the situation at all. Two of our four public printers are down (one for over a month and a half), making it much more difficult for users to get their prints, not to mention causing a huge amount of hassle for the staff.
Computer services at my library have deteriorated significantly over the last few months and I'm beginning to wonder if it is an intentional strategy on the part of the IT folks (and by extension, city government). They are forcing the issue by refusing to provide adequate support services and there doesn't seem to be ANYTHING we can do about it. We are at their mercy.
They are, quite literally, killing us.
Public libraries recognize this and are scrambling to remain relevant in this changing environment, but it's an uphill battle to prove we can provide real value to the community, especially as funds get tighter and tighter in these tough economic times.
My first indication that we are losing the fight was a recent announcement by our city's IT department that they want us to consider reducing the number of public computers we offer in order to reduce bandwidth demands on the network. We all laughed when we heard this but in fact this is exactly the kind of approach that will kill us in the long run. At a time when we should be looking for ways to increase our ability to provide fast, robust online services that are up-to-date with developing technology, our wonderful city government is making noises about curtailing our ability to provide those services.
Free computing is increasingly becoming the main reason why many people visit us, but if we reduce the quality of computing services, fewer and fewer people will come in, which will make it even that much harder for us to justify requests for adequate funding just to keep the building open and provide materials that people need. It's the beginning of a downward spiral towards irrelevance.
Already the quality of our computing services has gone down just in the last year. Our computers are several years old and constantly freeze up when people are trying to do email, take a test, or fill out a form. Repeated calls to IT have not improved the situation at all. Two of our four public printers are down (one for over a month and a half), making it much more difficult for users to get their prints, not to mention causing a huge amount of hassle for the staff.
Computer services at my library have deteriorated significantly over the last few months and I'm beginning to wonder if it is an intentional strategy on the part of the IT folks (and by extension, city government). They are forcing the issue by refusing to provide adequate support services and there doesn't seem to be ANYTHING we can do about it. We are at their mercy.
They are, quite literally, killing us.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Storytime Tale
You might think that providing storytimes for children would be all sweetness and light but you would be wrong. There are few things that upset parents and caregivers more than not being able to get into storytime because it's full, or because they're LATE and the program has already started. I know children's librarians everywhere know what I'm talking about.
But when you add preschools and day care centers into the mix, things can really get complicated. This morning we got a call from the director of a local day care center who has already made plans to visit our library on a particular date and time and wanted us to accomodate their group (50+ children) with a library tour and storytime. Here's the problem: we already have two regular storytime programs scheduled for that day and with only one children's librarian on duty at that particular time (not to mention only one storytime room), there is no way we will be able to accomodate this group on that date at the time they want.
The children's librarian offered to come to their location earlier in the morning that day - no dice. She suggested a different date - no, they already have it set IN STONE in their calendar (which amazes me - they set this date without consulting with us to see if it would work?) She suggested they try a different branch library - nope to that as well. Not satisfied with anything the children's librarian had to say, the day care director insisted on talking to me, but I could only repeat that we would love for them to come see us but not on that date at that time. She argued with me, said I was being ridiculous, said I was being unfair, said I wasn't supporting the community, said I was being contradictory (I had mentioned our scheduled storytimes but then said that we really couldn't accomodate them in the regular storytime as it wouldn't be fair to our regular attendees.) I could only keep apologizing to her (when I felt like shouting at her - I want it noted that I actually held my temper in the face of this abuse) and she finally said that maybe they could come in after the regular storytimes. So she talked with the children's librarian and made arrangements to come in at 11:30 am.
Which all sounds great, except I have a strong feeling that they are going to just show up at 10:00 and try to bully their way into the storytime, and we're going to have to prevent them from coming in. If that indeed happens it won't be pretty.
This is all in about a month so I will post an update after it's all over.
It's always something...
But when you add preschools and day care centers into the mix, things can really get complicated. This morning we got a call from the director of a local day care center who has already made plans to visit our library on a particular date and time and wanted us to accomodate their group (50+ children) with a library tour and storytime. Here's the problem: we already have two regular storytime programs scheduled for that day and with only one children's librarian on duty at that particular time (not to mention only one storytime room), there is no way we will be able to accomodate this group on that date at the time they want.
The children's librarian offered to come to their location earlier in the morning that day - no dice. She suggested a different date - no, they already have it set IN STONE in their calendar (which amazes me - they set this date without consulting with us to see if it would work?) She suggested they try a different branch library - nope to that as well. Not satisfied with anything the children's librarian had to say, the day care director insisted on talking to me, but I could only repeat that we would love for them to come see us but not on that date at that time. She argued with me, said I was being ridiculous, said I was being unfair, said I wasn't supporting the community, said I was being contradictory (I had mentioned our scheduled storytimes but then said that we really couldn't accomodate them in the regular storytime as it wouldn't be fair to our regular attendees.) I could only keep apologizing to her (when I felt like shouting at her - I want it noted that I actually held my temper in the face of this abuse) and she finally said that maybe they could come in after the regular storytimes. So she talked with the children's librarian and made arrangements to come in at 11:30 am.
Which all sounds great, except I have a strong feeling that they are going to just show up at 10:00 and try to bully their way into the storytime, and we're going to have to prevent them from coming in. If that indeed happens it won't be pretty.
This is all in about a month so I will post an update after it's all over.
It's always something...
Monday, August 18, 2008
Update on meeting room snafu
After our stressful morning the other day, things started looking up in the afternoon when the organizer of the group whose meeting somehow got deleted from our meeting room schedule came over and apologized for getting so angry. It's amazing what a difference a few hours can make. We were both so antagonistic in the morning during the inital confrontation but later on we had both calmed down and were able to have a cordial conversation. This is not to say that I no longer have bad feelings towards this group - with them it's always something - but at least this particular crisis was resolved with nobody going away dissatisfied.
My own difficulty with remaining calm in the face of accusations and verbal abuse is part of the problem, of course. My response to their belligerence was anger, and showing that only escalated the unpleasantness. When am I going to get control of my quick temper?? Gotta work on that.
Ommmmmmmmmm....
My own difficulty with remaining calm in the face of accusations and verbal abuse is part of the problem, of course. My response to their belligerence was anger, and showing that only escalated the unpleasantness. When am I going to get control of my quick temper?? Gotta work on that.
Ommmmmmmmmm....
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Doom and gloom
Well it's only 2 pm and so far today has been one disaster after another. The computer signup system was down when we got here so we called that in. The IT folks had the signup part working when we opened but then we realized we couldn't access the staff client software. This is after having both printers in the adult area go down yesterday, so we were having to move print jobs to the teen printer, but we couldn't access the staff software to do that. So we called that in. About an hour later we realized that nobody could print anything anyway, so we had to call THAT in. Apparently when they re-started the system this morning they neglected to re-start all of the parts, so we had to keep calling them in individually. Weekend tech support. Sheesh.
In the middle of all this a group showed up claiming they had the meeting room reserved. They didn't. There were at least 75 people in the lobby waiting to get into the room for this presentation, but a different group was already scheduled to use the room. The organizers got very, very belligerent with us about it, claiming it was our fault. They have caused lots of problems in the past so I wasn't feeling at all apologetic, and heated words were exchanged. In the past they've had the room booked for one date but advertised a different date, so we would have all of these people showing up with flyers saying they were going to be there, but the booking was for a completely different date. They are impossible to reach and never call us back when we leave messages. They often mess with the equipment, unplugging stuff and moving things around. So I do not have any warm and fuzzy feelings towards this group.
Unfortunately I cannot ban them from using the room due to political reasons. It would be a public relations nightmare if I cut them off from using our room. I won't go into any more detail, but that's not really an option. If only.
I ended up booting out the group that was legitimately scheduled in the room - they were a smaller group and could fit in a smaller room (albeit somewhat uncomfortably) and let the loudmouths have the large room. The whole time we were getting them into the room they were verbally abusing us. I was trying to stay calm but I didn't really succeed. This afternoon when they are finished in the room I am going to have to talk to them again to confirm the rest of their bookings to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. Do you think I want to talk to them again? I do not.
Unfortunately I found out in the interim that at one point they WERE scheduled to use the room today, so it looks like this actually WAS our mistake. The person who used to be in charge of the meeting rooms was very careless and probably accidentally deleted their booking. So now we do have to make nice and apologize to these jerks.
Only 3 and a half more hours to go today. I can't wait until closing time. Sigh...
In the middle of all this a group showed up claiming they had the meeting room reserved. They didn't. There were at least 75 people in the lobby waiting to get into the room for this presentation, but a different group was already scheduled to use the room. The organizers got very, very belligerent with us about it, claiming it was our fault. They have caused lots of problems in the past so I wasn't feeling at all apologetic, and heated words were exchanged. In the past they've had the room booked for one date but advertised a different date, so we would have all of these people showing up with flyers saying they were going to be there, but the booking was for a completely different date. They are impossible to reach and never call us back when we leave messages. They often mess with the equipment, unplugging stuff and moving things around. So I do not have any warm and fuzzy feelings towards this group.
Unfortunately I cannot ban them from using the room due to political reasons. It would be a public relations nightmare if I cut them off from using our room. I won't go into any more detail, but that's not really an option. If only.
I ended up booting out the group that was legitimately scheduled in the room - they were a smaller group and could fit in a smaller room (albeit somewhat uncomfortably) and let the loudmouths have the large room. The whole time we were getting them into the room they were verbally abusing us. I was trying to stay calm but I didn't really succeed. This afternoon when they are finished in the room I am going to have to talk to them again to confirm the rest of their bookings to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. Do you think I want to talk to them again? I do not.
Unfortunately I found out in the interim that at one point they WERE scheduled to use the room today, so it looks like this actually WAS our mistake. The person who used to be in charge of the meeting rooms was very careless and probably accidentally deleted their booking. So now we do have to make nice and apologize to these jerks.
Only 3 and a half more hours to go today. I can't wait until closing time. Sigh...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Regulars
Every public library has regulars who are there nearly every day, and my library is no exception. Most of them are, well, a bit odd.
For instance, there's the guy the staff calls "Hairy Legs" for obvious reasons. He's in his late 50s and I suppose he's retired because he spends most of his days in the library. He stands impatiently outside the front door at opening time and rushes in the second the doors are open to get on his favorite computer (#12) before anyone else gets to it. In order to do that, he literally runs to press the Enter key on computers 1-11 to make the signup system think someone is signing in to use those computers so he can get #12. It causes a lot of confusion for everyone who is right behind him (there is always a line to get on the computers when we open) so I asked him not to do it anymore. I thought he had stopped, but I found out that he still does it, but only when I'm not around.
After several hours on the computer he then signs up for a study room so he can "work on his book." Yeah, right - most of the time he's in there sleeping. Definitely against our policy but I just don't have the energy to fight him on it.
He's a big tattletale, too, always telling us whenever he thinks someone else isn't following the rules. Ironic, since he never does himself. Sigh...
Then there's the shushing lady. She's in every day playing computer games from a thumb drive she brings with her. I'd say she's in her late 30s or early 40s, and the main thing I notice about her is that she HATES anyone making noise, especially children. Lots of families use my library so we often have kids crying, usually as their parents are checking out. The minute this woman hears a kid crying she shouts "Be QUIET!" or "Oh, my god!" to let the child know that she is not pleased. I'm sure this is an effective way to quiet the child, who is usually all the way across the room. She got into it the other day with the guy on the computer next to her because he tried to get her to chill out about another screaming child. I mean, the kid was with his mom who was just trying to get her books checked out. She couldn't get him to be quiet (you know, sometimes there's NOTHING you can do), and she was trying to get out of the library as quickly as possible, but the shushing woman is so self-centered that she didn't care what the situation was. The ironic thing is that she has her headphones turned up so loud that we can hear her stupid game all the way over at the reference desk. We all hate her because she's just so mean.
Oh, and I can't forget our resident perv. Mid-40s, ruddy, pock-marked complexion, beer gut, spends hours on the computer looking at photos of scantily clad (but not nude) young women and chatting with I don't know who. He's often on his bluetooth as well. He used to be very loud on the phone until I went over and told him to quiet down a few weeks ago. He got PO'd, of course, and raised his voice at me (he's kinda scary) but since then has been pretty quiet. I guess he knows we can kick him out at any time, so he's always just on the edge of violating our code of conduct, but never really goes across that line.
And then there's our live-in family. For the last two months we have had a family of four literally living in the library. They are there every day from the minute we open until the minute we close, even on weekends. Mom & dad don't speak English very well (I think they are Russian, which is neither here nor there but I think it's sort of interesting) so their two kids do most of the talking for the family. The parents & teenage son all get on a computer immediately and spend their entire day doing that. (I should say here that we are "blessed" with enough public computers so that there's almost never a time when all computers are full - therefore, everyone can stay on their computer pretty much as long as they want because there's never a queue on the signup system. Other than first thing in the morning when everyone comes in at the same time, there's never anyone waiting to get on a computer.)
They wouldn't really be a problem except for their 6-year-old daughter. Mom & dad leave her with her teenage brother in the teen area, where she wreaks havoc all day long. They all pretty much ignore her, so she's always getting into something. The other day I saw her grabbing handfuls of rubber bands out of our rubber band can that we leave out for people to use when they pick up their hold requests. Anyway, she was just taking them out and strewing them all over the place. I often find big stacks of stuff just pulled off the shelves and scattered about, and I'm pretty sure she's the culprit. Today I found her pressing buttons at random on the printer because she found out that she could print out the configuration sheets and test prints that way. She had a stack of paper a quarter of an inch thick! And when I did a cleanup in the teen area I found juice boxes and cheese stick wrappers all over the place. I guess that's their regular diet.
I've debated about kicking them out but it's obvious they don't have anywhere else to go. And other than the daughter, they really don't cause any problems. And in her case, heck, she's only 6 years old! She doesn't know how to behave, and they obviously aren't teaching her. It's actually a pretty sad situation.
We have other regulars, too - people who spend hours just hanging out, looking at magazines, reading books, using computers. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it's what we DO. But I often wonder what their life must be like that spending all day every day at the public library is the most appealing option.
For instance, there's the guy the staff calls "Hairy Legs" for obvious reasons. He's in his late 50s and I suppose he's retired because he spends most of his days in the library. He stands impatiently outside the front door at opening time and rushes in the second the doors are open to get on his favorite computer (#12) before anyone else gets to it. In order to do that, he literally runs to press the Enter key on computers 1-11 to make the signup system think someone is signing in to use those computers so he can get #12. It causes a lot of confusion for everyone who is right behind him (there is always a line to get on the computers when we open) so I asked him not to do it anymore. I thought he had stopped, but I found out that he still does it, but only when I'm not around.
After several hours on the computer he then signs up for a study room so he can "work on his book." Yeah, right - most of the time he's in there sleeping. Definitely against our policy but I just don't have the energy to fight him on it.
He's a big tattletale, too, always telling us whenever he thinks someone else isn't following the rules. Ironic, since he never does himself. Sigh...
Then there's the shushing lady. She's in every day playing computer games from a thumb drive she brings with her. I'd say she's in her late 30s or early 40s, and the main thing I notice about her is that she HATES anyone making noise, especially children. Lots of families use my library so we often have kids crying, usually as their parents are checking out. The minute this woman hears a kid crying she shouts "Be QUIET!" or "Oh, my god!" to let the child know that she is not pleased. I'm sure this is an effective way to quiet the child, who is usually all the way across the room. She got into it the other day with the guy on the computer next to her because he tried to get her to chill out about another screaming child. I mean, the kid was with his mom who was just trying to get her books checked out. She couldn't get him to be quiet (you know, sometimes there's NOTHING you can do), and she was trying to get out of the library as quickly as possible, but the shushing woman is so self-centered that she didn't care what the situation was. The ironic thing is that she has her headphones turned up so loud that we can hear her stupid game all the way over at the reference desk. We all hate her because she's just so mean.
Oh, and I can't forget our resident perv. Mid-40s, ruddy, pock-marked complexion, beer gut, spends hours on the computer looking at photos of scantily clad (but not nude) young women and chatting with I don't know who. He's often on his bluetooth as well. He used to be very loud on the phone until I went over and told him to quiet down a few weeks ago. He got PO'd, of course, and raised his voice at me (he's kinda scary) but since then has been pretty quiet. I guess he knows we can kick him out at any time, so he's always just on the edge of violating our code of conduct, but never really goes across that line.
And then there's our live-in family. For the last two months we have had a family of four literally living in the library. They are there every day from the minute we open until the minute we close, even on weekends. Mom & dad don't speak English very well (I think they are Russian, which is neither here nor there but I think it's sort of interesting) so their two kids do most of the talking for the family. The parents & teenage son all get on a computer immediately and spend their entire day doing that. (I should say here that we are "blessed" with enough public computers so that there's almost never a time when all computers are full - therefore, everyone can stay on their computer pretty much as long as they want because there's never a queue on the signup system. Other than first thing in the morning when everyone comes in at the same time, there's never anyone waiting to get on a computer.)
They wouldn't really be a problem except for their 6-year-old daughter. Mom & dad leave her with her teenage brother in the teen area, where she wreaks havoc all day long. They all pretty much ignore her, so she's always getting into something. The other day I saw her grabbing handfuls of rubber bands out of our rubber band can that we leave out for people to use when they pick up their hold requests. Anyway, she was just taking them out and strewing them all over the place. I often find big stacks of stuff just pulled off the shelves and scattered about, and I'm pretty sure she's the culprit. Today I found her pressing buttons at random on the printer because she found out that she could print out the configuration sheets and test prints that way. She had a stack of paper a quarter of an inch thick! And when I did a cleanup in the teen area I found juice boxes and cheese stick wrappers all over the place. I guess that's their regular diet.
I've debated about kicking them out but it's obvious they don't have anywhere else to go. And other than the daughter, they really don't cause any problems. And in her case, heck, she's only 6 years old! She doesn't know how to behave, and they obviously aren't teaching her. It's actually a pretty sad situation.
We have other regulars, too - people who spend hours just hanging out, looking at magazines, reading books, using computers. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it's what we DO. But I often wonder what their life must be like that spending all day every day at the public library is the most appealing option.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tech support - ha!
We've had a public printer down for over a month so today I called the IT department to check on the status of the request and they said "huh, I guess we never got around to calling that in to [company X]." (I'll just call them X from now on.) So they called X about it. Now WE are not allowed to call X directly; we have to go through IT. I guess I should have followed up weeks ago. Sigh...
Anyway, a nice guy from X called me back within 20 minutes and asked me to do some test prints and call him back. He said they should be able to tell exactly what was wrong from the test prints, and that's all I would need to do. (Oh - we were getting "dirty" prints with extra ink all down the side of each page.)
So I did the test prints and called X back, was on hold for at LEAST 15 minutes, and finally got a different person. I explained what the other guy had told me to do and after asking me a BUNCH more questions she said, "Now have you cleaned the [something] window?" I'm like, "cleaned the WHAT?" She said, "All you have to do is get your cleaning wand, remove the fusing oil unit and clean the [something] window behind the fusing oil unit, being careful not to touch the [something]." I said, "First, we don't have a 'cleaning wand', and second, I don't have time to do this right now, so when I get off the desk I'm going to have to go over to the printer, take it apart, clean something with a tool I don't have, and then call back and wait on hold for ANOTHER 15 minutes." Her response: "Well, if you had called us standing right in front of the printer like we say in our guidelines you would be able to do it right away instead of having this delay." (Delivered in a sarcastic, snarky tone.) So I said, "Well, I thought YOU guys were the tech support for these printers - so far, it seems like I'm doing all the work and X hasn't done much of anything. We're not the ones who are supposed to be going into the printer and cleaning it out - that's your job." Whereupon she hung up on me.
Now granted, I was sort of a jerk, but what she was asking wasn't within my "realm of expectation," and of course hanging up on me wasn't particularly helpful. I called our IT folks back and told them about the call and they confirmed that our service contract with X only requires that we: fill the paper trays, clear paper jams, and replace ink cartridges. Nowhere in our contract does it say that we are responsible for cleaning the inside of the machine. So I hope to god that somebody comes and fixes the damned machine - our one remaining printer is currently being used by 40 computers and it's wearing out fast.
This is the kind of experience that gives tech support a bad name.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Meeting room mishap
We have a group that meets every month in our conference room to watch Laurel & Hardy movies. Their DVDs are some kind of European format (or Japanese format? I don't know) so they bring their own DVD player and hook it into the back of our TV. In my dealings with them before they have been haughty, impatient, condescending and just generally difficult to deal with, so I'm never happy to hear they need help with the equipment.
But this evening that's exactly what happened. Now our conference room has two doors, one leading out into the lobby and one inside the library proper. When I heard they needed help I went to the closer entrance inside the library and opened the door. Feeling some resistance, I sort of craned my neck around the door to see if there was a chair or even a person on the other side. Seeing nothing, I pushed the door all the way open, and immediately something crashed to the floor and everyone in the group gasped in horror. Their handmade "It's Time for Laurel & Hardy" clock lay in pieces on the floor.
I felt bad but at the same time PO'd because why the hell are they hanging their stupid clock over an ENTRYWAY, for god's sake? The looks on their faces, especially the guy in charge, were murderous at that point. I tried to pick it up and put it back together but it was a lost cause.
To top it all off, I was unable to assist them with the DVD player, either. While I was looking at it, several of them made snarky comments that REALLY pissed me off, so I just gave up and had them move to a different room where I knew the equipment worked.
I did the best I could but I know they are very unhappy with me. And I DO feel bad about their clock (as dorky and nerdy as it is, it's theirs, and they obviously love it), but it was an ACCIDENT, which was at least partially their own fault for hanging it in such a precarious spot.
Sometimes you just can't do anything right. Sigh...
But this evening that's exactly what happened. Now our conference room has two doors, one leading out into the lobby and one inside the library proper. When I heard they needed help I went to the closer entrance inside the library and opened the door. Feeling some resistance, I sort of craned my neck around the door to see if there was a chair or even a person on the other side. Seeing nothing, I pushed the door all the way open, and immediately something crashed to the floor and everyone in the group gasped in horror. Their handmade "It's Time for Laurel & Hardy" clock lay in pieces on the floor.
I felt bad but at the same time PO'd because why the hell are they hanging their stupid clock over an ENTRYWAY, for god's sake? The looks on their faces, especially the guy in charge, were murderous at that point. I tried to pick it up and put it back together but it was a lost cause.
To top it all off, I was unable to assist them with the DVD player, either. While I was looking at it, several of them made snarky comments that REALLY pissed me off, so I just gave up and had them move to a different room where I knew the equipment worked.
I did the best I could but I know they are very unhappy with me. And I DO feel bad about their clock (as dorky and nerdy as it is, it's theirs, and they obviously love it), but it was an ACCIDENT, which was at least partially their own fault for hanging it in such a precarious spot.
Sometimes you just can't do anything right. Sigh...
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Closing time
The other day at closing time, I was just about to lock the doors when a young woman slipped in. I told her I was sorry but we were closed. She said "Why?" Why? What kind of a question is that? Why do you THINK??? It's because we close at 6 on Fridays, why else? (Not that I said any of that to her, I just calmly stated our hours.) She then asked what time we closed on Saturdays and I said 6 PM. Her (very sarcastically delivered) response as she was walking out: "Well, that's really unfair because I WORK until 6 PM."
Y'know, I don't really care what time she gets off work.
Y'know, I don't really care what time she gets off work.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Library mayhem
A few weeks ago we noticed a young-ish (mid 20s?) man coming to the library a lot. He always wore the same camo pants and bright yellow t-shirt, but what really made him stand out was his habit of talking animatedly to himself. He would buy a visitor pass so he could use a computer, and often he would get very agitated, standing up and exclaiming loudly about something he saw online. I would amble over there and nonchalantly ask "Everything going OK, sir?", whereupon he would immediately sit down and be calm for a little while. It was like his craziness would overcome him sometimes, but when someone noticed he could be relatively normal for a bit. We had several other customers voice concern about him but other than just getting a little loud and talking to himself, he didn't really do anything that would get him kicked out.
One night, though, I came out to the reference desk and a different man came up and urgently said "Call the police! That guy just took a swipe at that other guy." I looked over, and sure enough, it was the guy we'd been watching. While I was on the phone with the police, our assailant calmly got up and walked out. The "victim" said he was just minding his own business when the guy next to him started cursing loudly. Not at him but at something he was looking at on the computer. "Then out of the blue, he took a swing at me - missed me by an inch. I told him if he touched me or even came near me again he was in for some hurtin'." Cops arrived and said for us to call them immediately if the guy ever came in again, which he did the following week. Luckily they were able to trespass him with no fanfare, and we haven't seen him since.
I know we're lucky because this could have been so much worse, but it reminded me that the public library is not necessarily a safe place. Anything can happen, and often does.
One night, though, I came out to the reference desk and a different man came up and urgently said "Call the police! That guy just took a swipe at that other guy." I looked over, and sure enough, it was the guy we'd been watching. While I was on the phone with the police, our assailant calmly got up and walked out. The "victim" said he was just minding his own business when the guy next to him started cursing loudly. Not at him but at something he was looking at on the computer. "Then out of the blue, he took a swing at me - missed me by an inch. I told him if he touched me or even came near me again he was in for some hurtin'." Cops arrived and said for us to call them immediately if the guy ever came in again, which he did the following week. Luckily they were able to trespass him with no fanfare, and we haven't seen him since.
I know we're lucky because this could have been so much worse, but it reminded me that the public library is not necessarily a safe place. Anything can happen, and often does.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Sex in the library
Apparently the library is a very arousing place. Years ago I was working at a small branch library that had those convex mirrors at the corners. It was very quiet and I thought everyone had gone, but I noticed some movement in one of the mirrors. We were about to close so I went over to check it out. It turned out to be a horny teenaged boy who just couldn't keep his hands off of himself. He literally ran away in what I assume was abject mortification. Poor kid. It was pretty amusing.
Some years later I was working at a much larger library and there was a man who kept exposing himself outside of the children's department. The large picture windows afforded the kids a wonderful view of this perv. Outraged parents would report him but he would always be gone by the time staff members investigated. Luckily, the police were able to catch him, um, red-handed (so to speak) one evening, and that was the end of that.
My friend who works in the Main Library downtown told me this story recently: apparently this young couple was so impatient to get at each other that they started having sex in the copier room. When security arrived, they basically seemed unconcerned and more than anything were annoyed at having been interrupted.
I guess there's something just so...forbidden about sex in the library that makes it more appealing to the adventurous (and libidinous) sort. I've always found it rather amusing. Beats customers hitting each other! But I will save that for another post. :-)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Left behind
I am constantly amazed at the number and variety of items people leave behind in the library. We currently have these items in our lost and found: hats, sunglasses, a sweatshirt, keys (car keys, house keys, you name it, we've got it), cell phones, chargers, CD-ROMs, a purse, several wallets, credit cards, ID cards of various types, photographs, stuffed animals, thumb drives, electrical cords, earrings, a necklace, notepads, folders, binders, baby bottles, a blanket, a cane, and a small bottle of prescription nitroglycerin (!).
How is it that so few people come back in looking for their stuff? We try to contact people if we find a name on something but that's usually not the case. Occasionally someone will come in and claim something but for the most part it just sits in the box for months until it gets so full that we have to go through it and get rid of the old stuff. Anything usable goes to the thrift store, everything else just gets chucked.
But how far can people get without their keys, for heaven's sake? And don't they miss their cell phone? Is it that easy to get a new one?
I will never understand people as long as I live.
How is it that so few people come back in looking for their stuff? We try to contact people if we find a name on something but that's usually not the case. Occasionally someone will come in and claim something but for the most part it just sits in the box for months until it gets so full that we have to go through it and get rid of the old stuff. Anything usable goes to the thrift store, everything else just gets chucked.
But how far can people get without their keys, for heaven's sake? And don't they miss their cell phone? Is it that easy to get a new one?
I will never understand people as long as I live.
Can you give me an umbrella?
A severe thunderstorm hit about 10 minutes before closing time this evening. Instead of leaving as soon as he heard the thunder, a man stayed until the bitter end. A minute before closing he came up to the reference desk and asked if we could give him an umbrella. Apparently he thinks one of our services is giving out free umbrellas when it's raining. Sigh...
Actually, we have people asking for headphones all the time, too. Which I guess isn't that outrageous, as we did lend out headphones at one time. But they kept breaking, and many of them walked away, so it was decided that we wouldn't offer them anymore.
People ask us for floppy discs, thumb drives, the use of our fax machine, coffee (the other day a guy asked if I could bring him a cup of coffee - I am not making this up), pencils, pens, paper clips, white-out, tape, the stapler, the hole punch, rubber bands, post-it notes, and, of course, paper. We're a free office supply center!
Actually, we have people asking for headphones all the time, too. Which I guess isn't that outrageous, as we did lend out headphones at one time. But they kept breaking, and many of them walked away, so it was decided that we wouldn't offer them anymore.
People ask us for floppy discs, thumb drives, the use of our fax machine, coffee (the other day a guy asked if I could bring him a cup of coffee - I am not making this up), pencils, pens, paper clips, white-out, tape, the stapler, the hole punch, rubber bands, post-it notes, and, of course, paper. We're a free office supply center!
Sometimes people are just grumpy
Every now and then we have a day where people (customers, patrons, whatever you want to call them) are just grumpy. I've said previously that the library where I currently work is very busy. This summer we have seen our highest gate count (close to 36,000 in July), highest circulation (over 86,000 items in July - yikes!), and highest program attendance (nearly 2,000 in July) that we've ever seen. On top of that, we are quite short-staffed due to unfilled vacancies (hiring freeze, you know), vacations, and a staff member on bereavement leave. We're all totally freakin' exhausted! So when customers have a grumpy attitude from the get-go it's very difficult to be calm and remain professional.
Take today, for example. Today I had 4 grumpy customers in a row, and it was a challenge to be polite 'cause they were all acting like jerks. #1 was a lady who insisted that she had already paid her $25.20 fine over a year ago, even though it was not marked paid in the circulation system. Of COURSE she paid with cash, of COURSE she didn't keep her receipt, and of COURSE she didn't pay it at my library. I was supposed to just take her word that she paid it even though she had no proof and there was no way for me to check cash register records since it wasn't my library. I'm a reasonable person; what I offered her was splitting it in half - we would "forgive" half and she would still be responsible for the other half. This was not acceptable to her and she argued and argued and argued with me about it, while other customers piled up, waiting for someone to help them. Very unpleasant. I did not budge, though. (Honestly, I thought forgiving $12.60 was quite generous). Afterwards I saw her on a computer and it looked like she was filling out our online survey. I'm sure what she had to say was not complimentary. (That's the problem with the online survey - the only people who are motivated to fill it out are the ones who are pissed off!)
Anyway, immediately after her I had to deal with an irate man who had been in one of our computer classes. He was upset because the person sitting next to him in the class was "clicking too much" and distracting him, and he also thought the instructor was moving too fast for him. He really NEEDS this instruction and was just SO unhappy that things weren't just exactly perfect for him. What a baby. It's a FREE class, man - you should be grateful we're offering them at all.
Oh, and then there was Bridezilla! She was trying to print stuff from a Web site for her wedding - I guess honeymoon destinations and such. I showed her how to do a print preview so she could make sure she was printing what she wanted, and I also explained that only the first 5 pages were free and for anything more than that she would have to add money to her printing account. She said that was "just stupid." Really, that's what she said. I didn't know how to respond so I didn't say anything at all. Later I found out that she brought two pages up to the desk and said the computer printed the wrong pages so she wanted her money back. Obviously she wasn't watching when I showed her print preview! This woman was one of the most unpleasant people I've encountered in a long time - really a bitch. I truly feel sorry for the guy she's marrying - he's in for an unhappy life.
Then I had a guy who swore up and down that he returned all six of the DVDs that were checked out on his card. He was just absolutely, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt certain that everything had been returned in our bookdrop over the weekend. Now I can see where a staff member might miss checking in one or two items, but six in a row? That's unlikely. Plus, if they HAD been returned, wouldn't I at least be able to find ONE of them? I could not find a single one. Where the hell did they go?
We have lots of people swearing that they returned items that we can never find. When I check for these items on the shelf, I PRAY that I can even find at least one of them but I seldom do. Are people just lying to us? Are we that incompetent? Do we have someone coming in when we're not open and stealing things from the bookdrop? It's a constant problem, and it makes people really grumpy, staff and customers alike. Most of the staff are convinced that people are just liars, but I don't know what to think - they all seem so certain! My strategy has been to renew things for people and ask them to really check around thoroughly, but in following up I have found that most of the time, the items still have not been returned, nor can we locate them anywhere in the library. Where they are is one of the great mysteries of the public library.
Take today, for example. Today I had 4 grumpy customers in a row, and it was a challenge to be polite 'cause they were all acting like jerks. #1 was a lady who insisted that she had already paid her $25.20 fine over a year ago, even though it was not marked paid in the circulation system. Of COURSE she paid with cash, of COURSE she didn't keep her receipt, and of COURSE she didn't pay it at my library. I was supposed to just take her word that she paid it even though she had no proof and there was no way for me to check cash register records since it wasn't my library. I'm a reasonable person; what I offered her was splitting it in half - we would "forgive" half and she would still be responsible for the other half. This was not acceptable to her and she argued and argued and argued with me about it, while other customers piled up, waiting for someone to help them. Very unpleasant. I did not budge, though. (Honestly, I thought forgiving $12.60 was quite generous). Afterwards I saw her on a computer and it looked like she was filling out our online survey. I'm sure what she had to say was not complimentary. (That's the problem with the online survey - the only people who are motivated to fill it out are the ones who are pissed off!)
Anyway, immediately after her I had to deal with an irate man who had been in one of our computer classes. He was upset because the person sitting next to him in the class was "clicking too much" and distracting him, and he also thought the instructor was moving too fast for him. He really NEEDS this instruction and was just SO unhappy that things weren't just exactly perfect for him. What a baby. It's a FREE class, man - you should be grateful we're offering them at all.
Oh, and then there was Bridezilla! She was trying to print stuff from a Web site for her wedding - I guess honeymoon destinations and such. I showed her how to do a print preview so she could make sure she was printing what she wanted, and I also explained that only the first 5 pages were free and for anything more than that she would have to add money to her printing account. She said that was "just stupid." Really, that's what she said. I didn't know how to respond so I didn't say anything at all. Later I found out that she brought two pages up to the desk and said the computer printed the wrong pages so she wanted her money back. Obviously she wasn't watching when I showed her print preview! This woman was one of the most unpleasant people I've encountered in a long time - really a bitch. I truly feel sorry for the guy she's marrying - he's in for an unhappy life.
Then I had a guy who swore up and down that he returned all six of the DVDs that were checked out on his card. He was just absolutely, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt certain that everything had been returned in our bookdrop over the weekend. Now I can see where a staff member might miss checking in one or two items, but six in a row? That's unlikely. Plus, if they HAD been returned, wouldn't I at least be able to find ONE of them? I could not find a single one. Where the hell did they go?
We have lots of people swearing that they returned items that we can never find. When I check for these items on the shelf, I PRAY that I can even find at least one of them but I seldom do. Are people just lying to us? Are we that incompetent? Do we have someone coming in when we're not open and stealing things from the bookdrop? It's a constant problem, and it makes people really grumpy, staff and customers alike. Most of the staff are convinced that people are just liars, but I don't know what to think - they all seem so certain! My strategy has been to renew things for people and ask them to really check around thoroughly, but in following up I have found that most of the time, the items still have not been returned, nor can we locate them anywhere in the library. Where they are is one of the great mysteries of the public library.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Life as a library page
I started working in libraries in my junior year of high school as a library page. Typically, library pages re-shelve returned books, but I was lucky enough to have a job that only required me to sit at the checkout desk and check people out as they left the building. This was of course before the days of self checkout (and the Internet)! It was a sweet job - I just sat there working on my homework or reading books from 5-9 pm, stopping every now and then to check someone out. It wasn't demanding, it wasn't hard - a perfect part-time job for a book lovin' couch potato like myself.
One evening, though, things got a little weird. I was sitting at the checkout desk (which was all the way over on the other side of the room from any other public service station so I was essentially by myself most of the time), minding my own business, when a tall, sort of crazy-looking man came up to me. He didn't say a word but reared back and hokked a loogie directly at my face. It landed right over my left eyebrow. He immediately rushed out the door and I never saw him again. It's hard to react quickly when someone spits on you, and unfortunately, just moments after this incident, an elderly couple came up to check out, so I had to sit there with this guy's spit sort of pooled there over my eye and pretend there was nothing wrong. Once they left, of course, I was able to clean it off, but it was way too late to have any chance at all of finding the guy who did it. It shook me up and grossed me out but I'm not easily scared off so I kept coming to work as usual. I don't remember whether I even told my boss about it or not - it was so long ago.
You would think that an incident like that would sort of sour me on the library profession but in fact, I found the whole thing very interesting. It did give me my first taste (not literally - yuck!) of the kinds of things that can happen in a public library. You just never know what to expect.
In fact, that's one of the things I LIKE about this setting. It's seldom boring - weird stuff happens all the time and we spend hours talking about the craziness. Makes life interesting. :-)
One evening, though, things got a little weird. I was sitting at the checkout desk (which was all the way over on the other side of the room from any other public service station so I was essentially by myself most of the time), minding my own business, when a tall, sort of crazy-looking man came up to me. He didn't say a word but reared back and hokked a loogie directly at my face. It landed right over my left eyebrow. He immediately rushed out the door and I never saw him again. It's hard to react quickly when someone spits on you, and unfortunately, just moments after this incident, an elderly couple came up to check out, so I had to sit there with this guy's spit sort of pooled there over my eye and pretend there was nothing wrong. Once they left, of course, I was able to clean it off, but it was way too late to have any chance at all of finding the guy who did it. It shook me up and grossed me out but I'm not easily scared off so I kept coming to work as usual. I don't remember whether I even told my boss about it or not - it was so long ago.
You would think that an incident like that would sort of sour me on the library profession but in fact, I found the whole thing very interesting. It did give me my first taste (not literally - yuck!) of the kinds of things that can happen in a public library. You just never know what to expect.
In fact, that's one of the things I LIKE about this setting. It's seldom boring - weird stuff happens all the time and we spend hours talking about the craziness. Makes life interesting. :-)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
I know it's been done before, but...
Yup, I'm another librarian planning to blog about the crazy stuff that happens in the public library on almost a daily basis. For years my librarian friends and I have said to each other, "We should write this stuff DOWN!" when some new nearly unbelievable thing happens. Well, I'm going to try to do just that. Some of it will be funny, some of it will be kinda mean, some of it will be me on my soapbox, some of it will just be rants - but all of it will be true.
I'm not gonna identify myself except to say that I work at a large branch library in a fairly large city (population close to 1,000,000). I've been a librarian for over 20 years, almost all of them in public libraries around the country.
Public libraries are truly open to all, which means public librarians see just about every facet of society at one time or another. It can be very stressful at times (not enough staff, budget cuts, rude customers, etc.), but it can also be very entertaining. Let the blogging commence!
I'm not gonna identify myself except to say that I work at a large branch library in a fairly large city (population close to 1,000,000). I've been a librarian for over 20 years, almost all of them in public libraries around the country.
Public libraries are truly open to all, which means public librarians see just about every facet of society at one time or another. It can be very stressful at times (not enough staff, budget cuts, rude customers, etc.), but it can also be very entertaining. Let the blogging commence!
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