Thursday, May 2, 2019

Library cards






I work at a library. I like the library patrons nearly all the time. But there are, nevertheless, a few... hundred... thousand... common behaviors at the front desk I don't like. And high on that list is the one in which a patron approaches, hands me something to check out, and nothing else.

I'm supposed to just know who they are? Magically? Without a library card!!!????

The truth is there are several hundred library patrons I know so well that it would be okay if they just popped up at my desk and I checked them out based on knowing their name. However, not a single one of these people would have the temerity to presume upon that relationship. Some of these people that I know by name are weird, and broken, and unhinged. Some of them are mentally disabled, obsessive, presumptuous, time consuming, and ill-mannered. But they at least understand that a library card is an essential part of the process.

So who then are these people who think they can just hand me some books and somehow I'll just check them out?

I don't know. They didn't give me a card.










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