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My Days Working at the Library

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  • My Days Working at the Library

    As a student, I worked as a page in a local public library. From what I recall, I don’t think there were very many SCs at the library. There were a few, however, that do stick out.

    Most of them weren’t really all that sucky, as opposed to STUPID. Maybe not even stupid, perhaps just having a bad day.

    Where do you find this?
    My job consisted of putting books back on the shelves, and making sure everything was in the proper order. Often times I would get a patron coming up and asking me where a certain section was. One patron, however, did it constantly. And I felt so bad for him too.

    P (patron)
    Me (me!)

    P: Hi, where can I find the Science Fiction section?
    Me: Actually, it’s right there behind you!
    P: Oh… right.

    ***

    P: Hi, where can I find the DVDs
    Me: Look to your left
    P: Bah! Of course! Thanks!

    ***

    P: Where is the children’s section?
    Me: Well this is weird, I’ve seen you up there before – with your kid. *points to the stairs we are standing in front of* Right up there, sir.
    P: Oh yes, thanks.

    ***

    This was constant. He always came up and asked me where something was, and I just so happened to be where he wanted to be! He would immediately get this look of pure shame on his face, and quickly turn toward the section.


    613.94
    613.94, 613.93

    I think these numbers might ring a bell with certain people on this board.
    While working as a student worker at the age of 16-18, being the hormone-riddled girl that I was, of course I would memorize the number for books such as The Art of Tantric Sex and The Joy of Sex.

    The most entertaining thing about this section is when I would catch people over there. Most times they would move over a little bit so that it would seem like they were looking at something else. I’m no fool.

    I think the best time I ever caught someone though was when I was rounding the corner into the aisle with my large cart of books, and a young man (I’d put him at the age of 24) jumped back in surprise, let out a cry, threw the book in the general direction of the shelf and ran down the aisle away from me.

    I wandered over, huge grin on my face, and picked up The Joy of Sex. I guess it was burning his hands. ^_^

    I have found these books hidden in all sorts of sections of the library, from fiction, to history, to even sports. Hidden under chairs, hidden behind desks. People love to look at them, but they rarely take them out. I worked circulation one summer and during those four months only ONE person took out one of these sexual position books. And she was a woman in her mid twenties.

    What do you suggest?

    Here I am, a young sixteen year old, putting books away. Up strolls this guy who it looks to me must be 25 years old.

    C = Creeptastic Creep
    Me = Guess who!

    C: Hi! My name is Creeptastic Creep!
    Me: I’m Kogo
    C: Well, Kogo what would you suggest I read today?
    Me: Well, my favourite is always Stephen King
    C: King, eh? I’ve read him in Spanish!
    Me: o_0 Okay…
    C: I’m going to University of <Bigshots>
    Me: Omg, he’s perving on me! That’s nice.
    C: So what else would you recommend?
    Me: *recommends some other author*

    C continued to harass me until I finally told him that I wasn’t allowed to talk to patrons, otherwise I could be fired. He stopped talking to me, but continued to follow me around. I was creeped out

    The Fabled Washroom Key

    The men’s washroom was locked. If a man needed to use the washroom he would have to come to the front desk and ask for the key. Only the men’s washroom. We had problems with holes being punched in the wall, and toilets being broken, etc. So not only did we have to hand out this disgusting, vile key but we also had to deal with the freaks, crackheads, and pervs.

    As I have mentioned earlier I worked the circulation desk for one summer. Well, would wonders never cease? I acquired a stalker that summer! It started off fine. This young man, about my age, would come to the front desk and ask to use the washroom. One of us would mentally prepare ourselves to touch that key, hand it to him, and breathe a sigh of relief as the key marched away from us and toward the washroom. When he came back, he’d throw the key in the basket and leave.

    Well, soon he was coming to the library every day (to use the internet for an hour, and to read magazines). And soon after that the only time he would come get that key was when I was the only one at the desk.

    The last day I worked fulltime, the poor guy came up and finally tried striking up a conversation with me. Then someone came in with donations, and he ran away!

    I thought that was the end of that. But no. He ended up going to the same college as me. And he stalked me even more!! He asked my friends for my name, he would look at me whenever I was in the same room, and then… he tried becoming friends with my boyfriend!

    Wtf?

    Libraries are full of pervs.

    I want my money back!

    A man came in screaming.

    We had charged him for a book, because it seemed that he never returned the book, and he could not find it. So he payed the charge.

    About a week after he paid the charge, we actually FOUND the book, on the shelf no less. So we called him up to let him know, and that we would reimburse him.

    He comes in, yelling bloody murder about how we were trying to steal his hard earned money, and blah blah blah. He demanded his money back. S, my boss, assured him that was why we had called him. To fix our error, and return his money.

    He began harrassing her, swearing, calling her names, as she completed the transaction to return the money (a whopping 50 bucks) to him. Upon completion, he screamed, "I'm never coming back here!"

    And so he storms out.

    S looked at her watch, proclaimed it was her break time and that she needed a smoke, and fairly ran outside to catch him off property so that she could give him a piece of her mind.

    I have never seen anyone so rude in my entire life. It was a genuine mistake. And all he could do was scream and swear about our charging him for a book that we had on our shelf. We called him back to give him his money back! Where in this were we not being honest? Seriously?
    "You're not gone five minutes, Agent Scully, and I'm already starting to feel like a stranger in my own office-"
    -Agent Doggett

  • #2
    Quoth Kogo Shuko View Post
    We had charged him for a book, because it seemed that he never returned the book, and he could not find it. So he payed the charge.

    About a week after he paid the charge, we actually FOUND the book, on the shelf no less. So we called him up to let him know, and that we would reimburse him.

    This happened to me once, though I am proud of the fact I never raised my voice over it. I checked out a book, read it, returned it...then the late notices started coming in. I did occasionally lose track of books, it's one of the hazards of roomies (one of which once did me a "favor" by returning my county library book to the city library...by mail...a week after the due date).

    So I searched my house, every place (from crawl space to attic, I had weird roomies) a book could fit, searched the roomies cars, quizzed the roomies, no book. The fines piled up, and finally the library sent the matter to a collection agency (fun fun fun). The thing is, I distinctly remembered handing the book to a librarian (no drop boxes at the time) when returning it.

    After about a month of collection agency borderline-harassment, I was in the library browsing, and found the book on the shelf. I had a vague memory of the library only owning one copy when I was putting a hold on it months before, and some questioning of a librarian revealed that they did indeed only have one copy. So, acting on a hunch, I tried to check out the book I found on the shelf.

    Wouldn't scan, due to already being checked out.

    The library got the collection agency off my back, waived the accumulated fees, and expunged the incident from my record. Never got an apology though...

    Comment


    • #3
      You know, when I think of glory holes (and really, who doesn't) and where to find them, the library is not the first place I think of. Gay bars downtown? Sure. Certain mensrooms in the student center down at the University? Yep. But the public library?

      Comment


      • #4
        Libraries are full of pervs.
        Yeah, noticed that on the first day of work. Everyday is perv day. God, before we had the policy of no porn, everyday was porn day.

        I want my money back!
        I could see he got angry when he got a notice and went to the shelf and found the book that had a claim on it. And he would still be a jerk for yelling. But you are giving him back his money! Ugh, he shouldn't have carried on like that. Be a jerk and say something, like "you took my money!" and that is all, but going on like that ? Ugh.

        That happens a bit, Difdi. Sorry you went through it. It's good you went to look. What drives me insane is these people who make it a scam. There book is late, and they claim that they returned it, then they go to the shelf (and either put the book back for when the librarian goes looking for it will find it or just comes straight back from the shelf after taking the book out of his/her bag) and come back saying they found the book. This woman keeps on coming in, claiming we don't check her books in and we find the "overdue" books on the shelf. But this happens a lot. Like almost every time she comes in. Now, if this happened to me once, I make sure I get a receipt, even if I have to wait (to be honest, I checkout and checkin my books myself, since this happened to me once).

        You know, when I think of glory holes (and really, who doesn't) and where to find them, the library is not the first place I think of.
        A lot of guys hook up at the library. I forgot which book, but some author mentioned our library as a good place to pick up a guy (and go to the bathroom with him, here. Ew).
        Last edited by depechemodefan; 06-19-2008, 07:34 PM. Reason: adding
        Time! Time! Time is what turns kittens into cats.

        Don't teach me a lesson; all I learn is that you are an asshole.

        I wish porn had subtitles.

        Comment


        • #5
          Heh. My library has distinct signs saying "NO CHILD PORN". I really wish these were not needed...

          I actually just stopped working a similar job. Didn't need me over the summer. I've seen the book numbers you mentioned. Parenting section. Kids room. So...right over the fantasy, was something along the lines of "Breasts: A owners manual."

          Now...needless to say, I gave it some weird looks. Then my crazy friend came round, picked it up, and walked around the library with it open to the middle...

          As for the creepy guy story, I have a ton of those. People seem to think that Selving books = I want to talk to you.

          Comment


          • #6
            Former library pages unite!

            That was probably my favorite summer job, got to work periodicals mostly, shelving putbacks, and chatting up the beautiful red-headed co-worker all summer. :sigh:

            If she hadn't stolen my David Bowie tour shirt it woud have been the best summer ever.

            We were lucky, we only had Playboy, and it usually was completely denuded by the first day after we got it, after which all I had to say was 'only articles left' and it never got checked out again.

            Comment


            • #7
              Ah. Lucky. I got stuck in the children's room. And I hate kids!

              Although, the Play Boy thing is quite hilarious.

              Comment


              • #8
                I'm a former page too, now a children's librarian for 26 years.

                To the OP who wrote about the filthy, disgusting bathroom key they had to give "customers" (where I work, no patrons, just customers):

                We kept our keys, on the mandatory large piece of wood, in a plastic basket, like you get at the dollar store. Just pick up the basket and aim it towards the customer. They pick it out and you put the basket down.

                BTW, I'm reading this thread right now at work, at the Adult Reference Desk, working till 8pm.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Kalga View Post
                  Heh. My library has distinct signs saying "NO CHILD PORN". I really wish these were not needed...
                  I'm not a lawyer or anything, but isn't this illegal any and everywhere in the civilized world ? Seriously, these signs aren't needed.
                  "I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Interesting it is to hear that others have worked as a library page........I'd really love to quit doing that myself (getting bored with the job duties), but am stuck with it because of the money. On the good side though, my co-workers are cool and I don't have to deal with SC's.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Samaliel View Post
                      I'm not a lawyer or anything, but isn't this illegal any and everywhere in the civilized world ? Seriously, these signs aren't needed.
                      SC: But! But! But! There's no sign anywhere telling me it's not allowed! Therefore, I should be able to do it!

                      And now, I'm off to rob a bank. There are no signs telling me I can't do that there.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        "There's no sign telling me I can't maul you with a shovel because I think you're stupid. Are you sure you you want to stick to that argument ?"
                        "I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          But! But! The Customer is always right!




                          It seems that the people who say The Customer is always right, are never right.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Today a guy comes up and insults (not to her face, to me) one of my co-workers for not finding a book by Barack Obama. Of course, the man spells the name "Abama". And thinks the title is Dreams for my father , not Dreams from my father : a story of race and inheritance. So no wonder she didn't find it.

                            At the time I was helping another guy, and the Obama guy wasn't rude at first, until I told him he can check the catalog why I was helping the present guy. sidenote, tellng people to check the catalog is a no-win situation. Most people want to check it but they ask "can you help me find this book" when they mean "I can look this up if you tell me where the catalog is." Yes, really. But sometimes when you mention there is a catalog, people get angry because you dont' want to help them

                            Anywho, he complains that "that Mexican girl" couldn't find the book (which we find latter is because the man didn't give the right information...also, just typing "Obama" is getting a lot of results. Maybe he dind't wait for her to look at each title). We go to the catalog and he spells the name Abama. Then another co-worker came up and told him the book is at such a call #. And that the name he (patron) gave for the book was suppose to be ...from... not ...for....
                            Time! Time! Time is what turns kittens into cats.

                            Don't teach me a lesson; all I learn is that you are an asshole.

                            I wish porn had subtitles.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth Samaliel View Post
                              I'm not a lawyer or anything, but isn't this illegal any and everywhere in the civilized world ? Seriously, these signs aren't needed.
                              Um... you mean shouldn't be needed.

                              Comment

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