Break Time.

Last Sunday I really thought the library would be closed today, I mean, the County system is, so why wouldn't the adjacent City system be. I was even telling patrons that their one week dvd materials would be due back on Tuesday, my bad.
I was so close to calling out today. But I figured if I did, I would spend the whole day play 'Red Dead Redemption' and NOT working on the two papers that are due this week.
I guess my erroneous assumption paid off when I told them their items wouldn't be due next Sunday because its a holiday, because there were only 4 people waiting at the door before opening. That and the fact that all of the phone calls we have gotten have been patrons asking if we're open today.

Lost and Found of the Week

Earlier this week while working the Circ desk, an Info coworker came up to me with a set of keys in her hand.

 

I took the keys and was about to place it in the lost and found when I noticed the keychain, it was a bottle opener that read, "Drunk Chicks Dig Me."  As I was in the process of taking a picture of it with my cell, my coworker incredulously asked, "You're taking a picture of that?"  I remark, "What? Should I take a picture of the owner when they claim it?"  We then joked about how funny it would be if an elderly person came to the desk to claim them.

 

A couple minutes later, a young girl came up to the desk and said that she had lost her keys.  So as I am pulling out the lost and found container, I ask her to describe them.  I would hate to think what would happen if I erroneously give away the keys of some patron's Aston Martin by accident.  She said there was a keychain.  Well, that really narrows it down.  As I'm fishing around the container with the only set of keys in there, I ask her if the keychain said anything on it.  She sheepishly replies, "Words."  It was at this point, I realized she wasn't going to budge and say those funny words so I held the  keychain up and pointed at them and asked, "Is this it?"  She nodded and took them without a reply.

This Is What They Pay Me For...

First thing my supervisor asks me to do when I walk in is to run to the grocery store and get change for the register.
Now, I'm a "body in a chair to boost attendance" for some guy's tulip talk. As you can see, its just the tulip guy, me, and some older lady talking his ear off about her garden - good stuff.

MLIS 1/6

My first semester of the MLIS experience is over with officially. Grades have been posted for my two classes: A and an A-, really an A 'minus'? Whatever, I'll take it, I was expecting worse.

Both of these classes were hybrid, so there weren't that many in-person classes which I actually learn better from. So my two summer classes are all in-person, driving will probably suck but I can suck it up for an accelerated 6 weeks.

This week is my only break before the "Summer Session of Hell" starts. I keep telling myself that its only 6 weeks and that the rest of the summer can be spent decompressing.

"There's a 104 days of Summer Vacation,
And school comes along just to end it.
So the annual problem for our generation,
Is finding a good way to spend it."

Yeah, I threw out a Phineas and Ferb reference.

Perry the Platypus is gangster.

The Library: We Ruin Your Mother's Day

We were fully staffed yesterday, the first time in months.  Even though half of the staff is new, its better than nothing and its great to blame things on the "new guy" [new GAL(s)].

It being Mother's Day also relieved the patron rush, still had a 1000+ door count though.

Only one "bad" patron interaction out of a hundred or so, not too bad.

A mom and her 10 year old son come up to the Circ desk to check out.  The first card she hands me has a lost item fine of over $20.  The item is from another branch, and they're closed so I can't do a shelf check.  I recommend her to call during the week to have them clear it up.  I ask if she has another library card we can use, that one is blocked too with 3 lost items totaling over $50.  Both lost items were from over a year and a half ago.  I was going to work with her and override the $20 block since I couldn't check the shelves for it, but she instantly started giving me attitude saying that they only have been to the library ONCE and everything has been returned.  Following her logic, yes she has been to the library once to check the items out, and she never made a SECOND trip to return the items.  So I go back and call my supervisor.  She comes out and talks to her and tries to talk to her.  The patron becomes even more irritated while her son is right next to her telling her, "It's okay mom."  Mom replies, "No, it's not, it's ruining our day." 

I got bored listening to her complain so I moved to a different station to assist the other non-disgruntled patrons.  The problem patron and her son walked out without the books only to return 5 minutes later, she was looking for my supervisor who returned to the backroom so she walked up to another coworker and asked her to pass on the message to my supervisor, "Thanks for ruining my Mother's Day!"   Ouch, really?  You're going to take it there?  And I suppose that if this happened a week earlier your message would have been different: "Thanks for ruining my Polish Flag Day!"  To make matters worse, my supervisor just had her first baby last November, so this was HER first Mother's Day.