Rock and a hard place

 

I don't often have unpleasant hours at the front desk of my library, but it happens.

In my last hour before I was off for my longer weekend a woman came to the desk to request help on the computers. I directed her to the librarian in the teen room.

She would rather die than walk to the teen room!

"Can't you call them!"

"Where is the woman who was at this desk earlier? Can't she help me?"

While I cannot convey the peevishness of her tone, I can happily report that I soon found out no one was in the teen room. So I offered to go out and see what I could do on this woman's computer. She proceeded to unsuccessfully do what she was doing for a few minutes until I asked if I could have a go. After about 20 seconds, which, admittedly, were also not successful, she exclaimed "I just want a librarian then!"

"Ok." I said, and returned to the front desk.

Five minutes later she returned to the front desk. She wanted to know where her librarian was. Apparently she felt she had ordered up a librarian and I had failed to deliver. My mistake. Now she wanted a manager. This took awhile but I managed to wrangle the one roaming the building as he came downstairs. 

"This woman wanted a manager. I don't think she's happy with me." I informed him.

He then became her sock puppet for the next ten minutes or so, possibly resolving her problem with the assistance of a children's librarian and the free gift of one of our two dollar flash drives. Later, in passing, this supervisor said to me, in what may or may not have been a neutral comment, "Just for your information, she said you wouldn't get a librarian for her."

That done a Nazi came to the front desk.

No, seriously, a real, known, holocaust denying Nazi who is a regular visitor, came to the desk. He stood there and said, I kid you not, "Jewish."

"Excuse me?" I inquired.

He was apparently trying to articulate the Interlibrary loan book he was there to pick up. "Jewish Ritual Killing of Gentile Babies" He said. "It's a book I have on Interlibrary loan."

I went back and got his book, whose title bore no resemblance to what he said, but, nevertheless was what his book was about.

We then exhaustively discussed the rules for interlibrary loan check outs.

I liked him way better than the woman.

And a bit better than my manager as well.