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At the beginning, this guy had all the signs of major suckiness. He came into the Library out of nowhere and had an agenda that could be considered entitled. As it happened, our meeting was one of the most enjoyable half-hours I've ever spent at work.
The call came from the reference desk, "LibraryLady, there's a gentleman here who could use your help". Of course, I went to see what was going on. It WAS a strange request.
The gentleman in question was writing a play with an ancient Egyptian setting. He had a list of names and wondered if anyone could help him learn how to pronounce them. Yeah, I could do that.
It was a quiet day with no scheduled readers. We retired into the reading room. He gave me his list of names and set up his little tape recorder. We began. The list was pretty generic but he was amazed to learn that Sesostris, Senesrut and Senwosret were all the same person. He was absolutely gleeful when he found somebody who knew how to pronounce Nespeneterenpere (NEZ-peh-net-zher-EN-peh-ray). He had a good laugh when I told him we usually refer to the guy as 'Jerry'. Hey, his coffin has a bright, cheerful face that looks very much like a 'Jerry' to me. Outlandish names or not, Ancient Egyptians were people who enjoyed life and often had funny nicknames like 'Ki-Ki'.
We enjoyed a few good laughs, he was very pleased with the session and offered me a $20 US tip. I told him I couldn't accept it but the Library would be grateful of the donation. He did that and we parted with wide smiles and good feelings all around. It was a nice way to end the week.
It was even better when I came back to work today. I found a heart-felt and funny Thank You Note in my mail box. Can't get less sucky than that, can you?
The call came from the reference desk, "LibraryLady, there's a gentleman here who could use your help". Of course, I went to see what was going on. It WAS a strange request.
The gentleman in question was writing a play with an ancient Egyptian setting. He had a list of names and wondered if anyone could help him learn how to pronounce them. Yeah, I could do that.
It was a quiet day with no scheduled readers. We retired into the reading room. He gave me his list of names and set up his little tape recorder. We began. The list was pretty generic but he was amazed to learn that Sesostris, Senesrut and Senwosret were all the same person. He was absolutely gleeful when he found somebody who knew how to pronounce Nespeneterenpere (NEZ-peh-net-zher-EN-peh-ray). He had a good laugh when I told him we usually refer to the guy as 'Jerry'. Hey, his coffin has a bright, cheerful face that looks very much like a 'Jerry' to me. Outlandish names or not, Ancient Egyptians were people who enjoyed life and often had funny nicknames like 'Ki-Ki'.
We enjoyed a few good laughs, he was very pleased with the session and offered me a $20 US tip. I told him I couldn't accept it but the Library would be grateful of the donation. He did that and we parted with wide smiles and good feelings all around. It was a nice way to end the week.
It was even better when I came back to work today. I found a heart-felt and funny Thank You Note in my mail box. Can't get less sucky than that, can you?