they need an attitude adjustment

[depechemodefan]

These instances happened today.

First story, happens 5 min. after opening.
me:
cbs : chipper but shitty

Guy comes up wants microfilm of newpapers. I have to fill an online form for them, since they are in storage, and pray that someone bothers to watch the screen. Retrieval takes 20 min, but as usual, no one who is suppose to retrieve from storage is looking, and I find out latter on the person who finally went to get the microfilm is one of the fucking idiots who for some reason thinks it's her right to be stupid.

Anyway, let's talk about me for a moment. I'm not chipper. I'm polite, but I don't make chit-chat. The guy I was helping, cbs, is chipper and since I wasn't as chipper as him, at one point (in his chipper voice, which is better then the angry voice the other passive-aggresive people who ask me this question use) he says, "are you having a good day?" I say yes. And he tries to compliment me but I think he wants me to become as chipper as him.

Like I mentioned, I fill out a form online and hope the retrievers are looking. We sometimes have staff in Storage looking at incoming requests, but most of the time the retriever is on another floor, checking-in books from branches and filling holds. And the idiot whose strategy at work is to act stupid is getting the items. So I decide to go to the patron and apologize and tell him the status. He is no longer chipper.

cbs: I don't know why it takes them so long, you just opened, they shouldn't have been busy. I could have gotten the film in 5 min.
me: unforturnately, the person who has to retrieve has other duties, like checking in.
cbs: it's been 40 min. You have a crappy atitude.
me: It's 10:35, you asked this material at 10:05, it's been 30 min.
cbs: I apologize.

So finally the supervisor of the idiot brings down the film.
me: would you like me to show you how to use the machine?
cbs: sure, and I apologize, you don't have a crappy attitude.
me: I am sorry that you have to wait so long.

Second story
me:
fb : fucking bitch

One thing is that to use our computers you have to have a library card or a computer use card. We issue actual cards. There is a barcode number on the back of each that you use to log on our computers. At times you might not have the card on you and we can look up your number with your id.

I'm at the front desk when fb comes up and plops here bag on the desk. Imagine everytime I ask a question she makes an exasperated noise and leaves her mouth open and looks me up and down like I'm shit.
fb: my number doesn't work,.
me: which number.
fb: my computer number!
During this she is digging in her purse for her number. Way to be prepared, bitch.
me: when did you get your card?
fb: I wasn't given a card, I was given a number!
me: when were you given the number?
fb: last week. Never mind, I'm finding someone else to help me.

So latter I wander off to the desk she went to and see 2 cws working with her. One was telling her that she owes $19 on one card. Now if you owe money you can't use the card.

No doubt she had a card but lost it and we just wrote down her number last week. She can't even remember how she asked for the number, that she had a card. She probably at one point owed us money and someone gave her a computer use card, then when she went to my cws, they found her regular library card record, and see she can't log in because she owes money.

[Merriweather]

She probably knew she owed money all the time, and was trying to work around the system to get a number to use anyway.

[depechemodefan]

I asked the 2 cws who dealt with fb after she got her panties in a twist and flounced off. Last week we did write down her compute- use card number for her and of course she memorized the number wrong, and when a cw pointed that out to her, she got all huffy.

But it seems she had 2 library cards. First card she owed around $12 on it. Then she moved so she had an new drivers license. When she went again to the library to get a new card, we had her old info. and the person giving her the card didn't realized she moved so she got a new card. She keeps on losing the cards (at least 2x) and being issued new cards. The last card shows she owes $19, and she had the card for only 9 months before she was issued a computer use only card, which was issued back in Jan. We issue computer use cards when people don't want to get a library card, but we have no policy about patrons who owe money being prohibited from gettign a computer-use card.

Anyway, cws say she had an attitude, with her saying "I know that!" or "just give me the number!"

[Slave to the Phone]

I'm a regular library patron. I get emails when my books are going to be due, I can renew my books online and there are convenient book drops all over town. Of course, I don't avail myself of these services and consider my overdue fines to be totally my fault. When I go to pay up, I do it with a smile on my face. No complaining, no excuses, just "Hi, I owe money" while holding out my card.

Its reading your stories that make me understand why library staff who aren't familiar with me flinch when I tell them I have fines and then look happy that I'm not all bitchy.

Its a FREE public library. Don't they have any idea how lucky they are? They can borrow best sellers or find old favorites. They can use computers and borrow movies and music and audio books. They have well trained people who will help them find what they need. All for FREE unless they are idiots like me who are unable to go a month without paying a couple of dollars.

I don't get it, I really don't.

[paxillated]

"I can renew my books online and there are convenient book drops all over town. Of course, I don't avail myself of these services and consider my overdue fines to be totally my fault."

Yeah, me too, although the e-mail reminders have helped. I love my libraries, so I console myself for fines by labeling them "involuntary donations."

Support your library! Bring your stuff back late!

[depechemodefan]

Its a FREE public library. Don't they have any idea how lucky they are?

Yes, people don't know how lucky they are. One of my duties is to look for obituaries and articles in old newspapers. In the early 1900's I read an article about how people had to bring from their jobs a letter to show they are employed in order to get a library card. Then in the late 90's the mayor changed the policy where you dont' need to be a resident of the City, you can be a resident of the State to get a free library card.

OH, though funny, a guy comes up and wants to pay his friend's fine for his friend's birthday. Sorry, we need the card even if you are paying a fine for the friend.

[Slave to the Phone]

Support your library! Bring your stuff back late!

Great minds! I support my library by keeping my stuff late

OH, though funny, a guy comes up and wants to pay his friend's fine for his friend's birthday. Sorry, we need the card even if you are paying a fine for the friend.

I laughed when I read that. What a great friend My boss is a fellow bibliophile, so we joke about overdue fines. The highest I've managed was 13.75. If you go over 15.00, you can't check more books out until the debt was paid. That happened several years ago, and was totally my fault.

She used to tease me about that until a couple of months ago. She managed to rack up 53.00 in fines a couple of months ago, and was at a different branch in a different city. She couldn't pay her fines there and had to leave her books at the counter and do a walk of shame out the door without her stack of books.

She didn't yell or scream because she had spent an hour finding books. She just hung her head in shame and went to the library in the right city to pay her fines. I'm going to be teasing her about that for forever.

We think that public libraries are awesome, and know that they are needed and underfunded.

Now, a while back, because of the economy dumping, one of the ways that was considered was to charge frequent users a fee. OK, I was good with that, I'd pay my fee and then pay for someone who couldn't afford the 20 bucks. Boss agreed that she would pay as well.

Until it came out that the extra money wouldn't go to the library. It would go to the jails because their frequent flyers didn't have the money to pay for their expenses.

A lot of outrage happened and the fee never happened.

[RealUnimportant]

fb: my number doesn't work,.
me: which number.
fb: my computer number!
During this she is digging in her purse for her number. Way to be prepared, bitch.
me: when did you get your card?
fb: I wasn't given a card, I was given a number!
me: when were you given the number?
fb: last week. Never mind, I'm finding someone else to help me.

I get this WAY too often & it pisses me right off - why do people think that us asking questions isn't *helping* them? We need to know what the issue is, don't we? Oh I forgot, there's a single blanket response that fixes ALL issues.

Unfortunately, "we can't kill them all Edward..."

[XCashier]

We think that public libraries are awesome, and know that they are needed and underfunded.

Indeed they are. Heaven knows, the local library saved my sanity when I was unemployed. Free entertainment! All the books and movies you want, free as long as you return them on time.

[Merriweather]

Indeed they are. Heaven knows, the local library saved my sanity when I was unemployed. Free entertainment! All the books and movies you want, free as long as you return them on time.

When I was young and moved all the time, first thing I would do everytime is get a local library card. My parents didn't read much, never bought books, so the library was my wonderland, i was always begging my dad for a ride. Even as an adult, I was a regular visitor, and trips to the library with my daughter were a once a week outing.

The library where I live now is absolutely the most awesome ever. My granddaughter comes from out of state to stay with us for a month each summer, and first thing I do is check the library website when planning her visit. In addition to keeping her in reading materials (not an easy thing to do), our library in summer has a movie once a week, plays, entertainers (like the Reptile Guy, with live snakes and such), a "touch room" with exhibits, and all sorts of activities. They even do a family story night, where they encourage the whole family to come in pajamas. Practically everything is free, too.

[XCashier]

The library where I live now is absolutely the most awesome ever....our library in summer has a movie once a week, plays, entertainers (like the Reptile Guy, with live snakes and such), a "touch room" with exhibits, and all sorts of activities. They even do a family story night, where they encourage the whole family to come in pajamas. Practically everything is free, too.

Ours isn't quite that fancy, but they do have guest speakers and musicians from time to time, a large DVD collection (mostly older movies, BBC videos, foreign films, etc.) and a nice coffee shop.

I agree that they are underfunded and undervalued. People really don't realize what a treasure libraries are.

[Slave to the Phone]

I agree that they are underfunded and undervalued. People really don't realize what a treasure libraries are.

There are people today in other countries who would give almost anything to have access to a public library that just has books. We get so much more, and its only pennies out of our property taxes.

I went to the library after work today. I got 4 dead tree books, 3 audio books (on CD, my car doesn't have a tape player) and only had to pay 75 cents because once again, I brought a book back late.

The self check-outs were down, and people were bitching and complaining about having to stand in line. Short lines, that moved fast.

Some people just don't know when they have it good.

[Ironclad Alibi]

The summer after high school I had a job with a split shift, 8-12 and 2-6. I went to the library for most of the 2 hour gap.

[depechemodefan]

Today a guy from out-of-state asked how he can get a membership. When I told him that the out-of-state fee was $40, he said that was rediculous. I told him "what would happen if you went back to New Mexico with our books?" He still thought it was rediculous.

[Slave to the Phone]

Lets see if I understand this correctly...he doesn't pay taxes in your county, or even in your state...and he expects you to hand him a bunch of books that he will take with him and drop in random libraries that will be out of state. Oh, wait, I forgot where I was. Of course he did, and will tell everyone about how horrible you were to him.

Did you point him to the Friend's books so he could buy a couple to get him through his bookless trip? What a jerk.

The county next to mine recently aquired 15,000 ebooks. I like ebooks, I don't get overdue fines on them, they just go away when they are due back. When I called to ask how much it would cost for me to get a card, it was $50.00. My local library doesn't have much in the way of ebooks, so I consider it to be a bargin and will drive 120 miles to pay 50 bucks for a year.

Have I mentioned that I love public libraries?