I waved a guy's fines to get rid of him
I work at a library. The day I was approved to work the desk, I was given a great power: the power to wave fines. I can use my own discretion for it, even. If you have a good excuse, or even just a good story, I can wave them. If you have a decent excuse but you're a total asshole, I won't do it. Like this one guy, he was a new patron, and he didn't realize that DVDs were a dollar a day late instead of twenty cents like everything else. As a result, his wife had him keep eight DVDs a week late to finish watching them instead of returning them, planning to pay elevenish dollars. Instead it was going to cost him $56. We talked for a while, I got the sense of his situation, and genuinely believed his story. I ended up charging him the elevenish dollars he thought he would pay, adding a note on his account that he had been briefed on the charges just in case it was a huge scam and he tried it again later. I had the power to do that.
But in the seven years I've worked here on and off, I never waved somebody's fines because they would not go away. I did that recently. It was eighty freakin' cents, and this guy had absolutely no excuse.
"I forgot to return them. Wave my fines." Uh, no. The fines are there to discourage you from forgetting.
"I was on campus all day." WTF? From 10AM to 9PM you were on campus? "Yes." Which campus? Wouldn't say. And you couldn't go online to renew them? "No, I didn't have a computer." You could have called, too. "No, didn't have a phone."
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit.
There was no one behind him for me to call. I was the only one on the desk. There was nothing else I had to do that I could use to end this conversation. He just. Would. Not. Let. It. Go. I tried to use my psychic powers to make his head explode. No dice.
Finally, I decided it was worth eighty cents just to get rid of him. I just broke. I regret it, but what's done is done. I taught a customer that if you drive me crazy hard enough, I'll give you what you want.
ALSO, HERE'S SOMETHING I NEED TO GET OFF MY CHEST BUT I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE ANOTHER THREAD.
Some guy asked me how to log out of his Yahoo account.
There was a bit of a language barrier between us, but while I was shelving books a man came up and asked for computer help. He couldn't log out of his Yahoo account. He showed me that when he closed the window, re-opened it, and went to Yahoo it was still logged in on him.
I've never used Yahoo, and I didn't see a logout button. I told him I didn't know but I would find one of the other workers who dealt with computer problems. He kept asking and asking, I think he thought I still couldn't understand him. Finally, I interrupted him and said, "Wait here a moment," and walked away. I wasn't going to get a chance to if I didn't just cut him off.
Seriously. Dude. It's YOUR Yahoo account. How do you normally log out? Or did you just now make it here in the library?
Another lady was frustrated because I didn't know how to add people as friends on Facebook. I think people don't understand I'm not a librarian. I am literally trained to do nothing but check in, check out, and shelve books. Everything else I know about the library I've picked up on my own.
I know you hear all the time that your local library can help you with just about anything. That's true. You want the ladies who work at the desks. They're the ones who are trained to run a library. They are the bastions of knowledge that you expect out of a library worker. Don't act pissy because I need to go get them. And don't look at me like I'm stupid. I'm not stupid. You didn't ask me how to itemize your deductions for your federal income tax or how many cells to draw per second to animate a television cartoon. I know that stuff.
...
But in spite of it all, it's a lovely day.
I work at a library. The day I was approved to work the desk, I was given a great power: the power to wave fines. I can use my own discretion for it, even. If you have a good excuse, or even just a good story, I can wave them. If you have a decent excuse but you're a total asshole, I won't do it. Like this one guy, he was a new patron, and he didn't realize that DVDs were a dollar a day late instead of twenty cents like everything else. As a result, his wife had him keep eight DVDs a week late to finish watching them instead of returning them, planning to pay elevenish dollars. Instead it was going to cost him $56. We talked for a while, I got the sense of his situation, and genuinely believed his story. I ended up charging him the elevenish dollars he thought he would pay, adding a note on his account that he had been briefed on the charges just in case it was a huge scam and he tried it again later. I had the power to do that.
But in the seven years I've worked here on and off, I never waved somebody's fines because they would not go away. I did that recently. It was eighty freakin' cents, and this guy had absolutely no excuse.
"I forgot to return them. Wave my fines." Uh, no. The fines are there to discourage you from forgetting.
"I was on campus all day." WTF? From 10AM to 9PM you were on campus? "Yes." Which campus? Wouldn't say. And you couldn't go online to renew them? "No, I didn't have a computer." You could have called, too. "No, didn't have a phone."
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit.
There was no one behind him for me to call. I was the only one on the desk. There was nothing else I had to do that I could use to end this conversation. He just. Would. Not. Let. It. Go. I tried to use my psychic powers to make his head explode. No dice.
Finally, I decided it was worth eighty cents just to get rid of him. I just broke. I regret it, but what's done is done. I taught a customer that if you drive me crazy hard enough, I'll give you what you want.
ALSO, HERE'S SOMETHING I NEED TO GET OFF MY CHEST BUT I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE ANOTHER THREAD.
Some guy asked me how to log out of his Yahoo account.
There was a bit of a language barrier between us, but while I was shelving books a man came up and asked for computer help. He couldn't log out of his Yahoo account. He showed me that when he closed the window, re-opened it, and went to Yahoo it was still logged in on him.
I've never used Yahoo, and I didn't see a logout button. I told him I didn't know but I would find one of the other workers who dealt with computer problems. He kept asking and asking, I think he thought I still couldn't understand him. Finally, I interrupted him and said, "Wait here a moment," and walked away. I wasn't going to get a chance to if I didn't just cut him off.
Seriously. Dude. It's YOUR Yahoo account. How do you normally log out? Or did you just now make it here in the library?
Another lady was frustrated because I didn't know how to add people as friends on Facebook. I think people don't understand I'm not a librarian. I am literally trained to do nothing but check in, check out, and shelve books. Everything else I know about the library I've picked up on my own.
I know you hear all the time that your local library can help you with just about anything. That's true. You want the ladies who work at the desks. They're the ones who are trained to run a library. They are the bastions of knowledge that you expect out of a library worker. Don't act pissy because I need to go get them. And don't look at me like I'm stupid. I'm not stupid. You didn't ask me how to itemize your deductions for your federal income tax or how many cells to draw per second to animate a television cartoon. I know that stuff.
...
But in spite of it all, it's a lovely day.
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