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So yesterday in my first post I said we've mostly got fabulous patrons? Today, I just had to have someone prove me wrong!
Background:
I work in a small library. We're the library that originally was built for Village. Village was eventually eaten by City and is politically part of City. City's got its own much larger library, Big 'Brary. We're Bitty 'Brary. We are not a branch of Big 'Brary and are only affiliated with them in as much as anyone in our regional library consortium is affiliated (reciprocal borrowing policies, can return books to any member library, can pay fines/fees at any library no matter where accrued, and so on).
Big 'Brary closes on Saturdays over the summer. Starting today. We are one of very few libraries open on Saturdays (and Sundays--that's a rarity, too). We get pretty swamped on Saturdays in the summer as a result.
/Background
We opened about half an hour ago. Women clomps up the stairs to our computer area. Sits down at the first computer. Jiggles mouse, pokes at keyboard. Gets nowhere. Sits down at second computer. Jiggles mouse, pokes at keyboard. I'm about to ask her if she wants to make a reservation to use the computer when she whirls around and snarls:
SC: Your computer is not responding? How do you make it work?
Me: You sign up at this computer (indicates reservation computer) here and it will assign you to one of the available computers.
SC huffs, flounces the three feet to the reservation computer and mutters under her breath. Then she POUNDS each letter out the keyboard: SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM. I am NOT PLEASED and rather tempted to tell her that our computers are not meant to be used that way and if she can't treat them with respect she'll have to leave.
SC: It didn't work! It told me to just use ANY!
Me (thinking she didn't follow the program through all the way because there's an option to either take ANY computer or select a specific one through the drop down menu): Oh, you have to keep going. I'll walk you through it. (Working on staying polite and helpful, since I know it's not the most intuitive of systems. I walk over to do the hand-holding portion of signing up).
SC: I ALREADY DID THAT.
Me: So you click next (I do this for her) and enter your card number.
SC: I ALREADY DID THAT.
I indicate the blank box on the screen, smiling politely.
SC POUNDS OUT her card number.
Me: Now here where it says any-- (I click through at this point and it tells me she's already made a reservation. Different issue. She didn't read the screen that told her her computer number). Oh, looks like you already made your reservation and didn't take note of the computer it assigned you.
SC: (muttering) I told you.
I look up her computer, tell her which one.
She sits down.
SC: Now it's giving me this screen! It's not working!
There's a log in screen at the computer. You put in your barcode again to activate your reservation.
By this point my patience is wearing thin because she's been nothing but rude since she stomped her way into the computer area.
Me: (in, I admit one of those starting to get sing-song-y, falsely cheerful voices) There you enter you barcode and it'll let you on to the computer!
SC (grumbling under her breath) POUND POUND POUND POUND on the keyboard. Huffs and sighs when our computer use policy pops up and she has to click okay.
And what does she do on the computer? She goes onto the catalog and looks up some books. She's not even ordering them.
We have separate catalog computers that are solely for accessing the catalog. No log ins required. The reservation system is for general use computers, like internet and word and stuff.
They're clearly marked and she had to walk by TWO of them to get to the computer area.
Could have been entirely avoided if she'd just said that she wanted to use the catalog and I would have shown her the catalog computer RIGHT NEXT TO HER. Completely available the whole time she was throwing her little hissy fit.
Since I'm nosy, I use her barcode to look her up (I've got access to the Reservation System on our staff computer to monitor access and make exceptions when necessary--it's an imperfect system).
Her card is from Big 'Brary. She's from out of town (massively from out of state, actually, but don't worry, I won't judge her home state based on her). Her 'local' address is marked as only valid through Summer 2010. Umm, thanks Big 'Brary. If you've got a summer out 'o towner, you're supposed to make their cards expire at the end of the visit so we can UPDATE THE INFORMATION if/when they come back.
So a mean out-of-towner probably went to Big 'Brary to get a book or two, finds our they're closed, comes to us instead, and rather than asking a simple question or two, makes massive assumptions possibly based on Big 'Brary's computer system (you can log on right a the computer there; ours is set up to be done only at the reservation station because we used to have fights over who got the computer--dude A who plopped his stuff down and was setting it up or dude B who went to the reservation computer and typed in his number and was assigned the computer dude A had yet to log in at) and makes her visit miserable for us and her. *sigh*
She's so getting a note on her card about updating her address.
Background:
I work in a small library. We're the library that originally was built for Village. Village was eventually eaten by City and is politically part of City. City's got its own much larger library, Big 'Brary. We're Bitty 'Brary. We are not a branch of Big 'Brary and are only affiliated with them in as much as anyone in our regional library consortium is affiliated (reciprocal borrowing policies, can return books to any member library, can pay fines/fees at any library no matter where accrued, and so on).
Big 'Brary closes on Saturdays over the summer. Starting today. We are one of very few libraries open on Saturdays (and Sundays--that's a rarity, too). We get pretty swamped on Saturdays in the summer as a result.
/Background
We opened about half an hour ago. Women clomps up the stairs to our computer area. Sits down at the first computer. Jiggles mouse, pokes at keyboard. Gets nowhere. Sits down at second computer. Jiggles mouse, pokes at keyboard. I'm about to ask her if she wants to make a reservation to use the computer when she whirls around and snarls:
SC: Your computer is not responding? How do you make it work?
Me: You sign up at this computer (indicates reservation computer) here and it will assign you to one of the available computers.
SC huffs, flounces the three feet to the reservation computer and mutters under her breath. Then she POUNDS each letter out the keyboard: SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM. I am NOT PLEASED and rather tempted to tell her that our computers are not meant to be used that way and if she can't treat them with respect she'll have to leave.
SC: It didn't work! It told me to just use ANY!
Me (thinking she didn't follow the program through all the way because there's an option to either take ANY computer or select a specific one through the drop down menu): Oh, you have to keep going. I'll walk you through it. (Working on staying polite and helpful, since I know it's not the most intuitive of systems. I walk over to do the hand-holding portion of signing up).
SC: I ALREADY DID THAT.
Me: So you click next (I do this for her) and enter your card number.
SC: I ALREADY DID THAT.
I indicate the blank box on the screen, smiling politely.
SC POUNDS OUT her card number.
Me: Now here where it says any-- (I click through at this point and it tells me she's already made a reservation. Different issue. She didn't read the screen that told her her computer number). Oh, looks like you already made your reservation and didn't take note of the computer it assigned you.
SC: (muttering) I told you.
I look up her computer, tell her which one.
She sits down.
SC: Now it's giving me this screen! It's not working!
There's a log in screen at the computer. You put in your barcode again to activate your reservation.
By this point my patience is wearing thin because she's been nothing but rude since she stomped her way into the computer area.
Me: (in, I admit one of those starting to get sing-song-y, falsely cheerful voices) There you enter you barcode and it'll let you on to the computer!
SC (grumbling under her breath) POUND POUND POUND POUND on the keyboard. Huffs and sighs when our computer use policy pops up and she has to click okay.
And what does she do on the computer? She goes onto the catalog and looks up some books. She's not even ordering them.
We have separate catalog computers that are solely for accessing the catalog. No log ins required. The reservation system is for general use computers, like internet and word and stuff.
They're clearly marked and she had to walk by TWO of them to get to the computer area.
Could have been entirely avoided if she'd just said that she wanted to use the catalog and I would have shown her the catalog computer RIGHT NEXT TO HER. Completely available the whole time she was throwing her little hissy fit.
Since I'm nosy, I use her barcode to look her up (I've got access to the Reservation System on our staff computer to monitor access and make exceptions when necessary--it's an imperfect system).
Her card is from Big 'Brary. She's from out of town (massively from out of state, actually, but don't worry, I won't judge her home state based on her). Her 'local' address is marked as only valid through Summer 2010. Umm, thanks Big 'Brary. If you've got a summer out 'o towner, you're supposed to make their cards expire at the end of the visit so we can UPDATE THE INFORMATION if/when they come back.
So a mean out-of-towner probably went to Big 'Brary to get a book or two, finds our they're closed, comes to us instead, and rather than asking a simple question or two, makes massive assumptions possibly based on Big 'Brary's computer system (you can log on right a the computer there; ours is set up to be done only at the reservation station because we used to have fights over who got the computer--dude A who plopped his stuff down and was setting it up or dude B who went to the reservation computer and typed in his number and was assigned the computer dude A had yet to log in at) and makes her visit miserable for us and her. *sigh*
She's so getting a note on her card about updating her address.
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