Bookdrop Hazards #12

If being outdoors is so great, then what are  these insects doing indoors?

A couple days ago, I opened up the book drop door to find this intruder sitting on top of the pile like he/she was playing King of the Bookdrop Hill.

I swear this guy/girl must have trained under Master Mantis from Kung Fu Panda, because:
1.) this bug has insanely supernatural strength for being able to open the bookdrop slot and slide in.

2.) it managed to stay on top of the pile directly above the shoot without being crushed from the return deluge of Naruto or Tsubasa or whatever those crazy teens are reading these days.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia...

"One Whiz With".

Three words to live by, oh, and don't forget the cheese fries too.

Library Videos Done Right

I admit that there has been a lot of ragging on whack librarian videos and I'm not taking anything back about what I've said about them.

But with the bad there is some good. Okay, well good to me at least, if that's even worth anything.

Here's a video I can watch over and over and laugh each time, ain't that right Sparky:

Rules of Circulation #27a (RoC)

"Improper Use of County Property"

This is an amendment to a previous entry: "Rocks, Papers, Scissors."


If the stars are aligned perfectly and the moon is in the proper lunar phase, and most importantly, the patrons have their politeness degree, I will let them borrow the scissors or use the stapler.


The only stipulation is that the patron has to use said items at the circ desk.  The majority of patrons are cool with that and bring their materials to the desk, others cop an attitude and grumble, "Nevermind," and stomp backto the stacks never to be heard from again.  Seriously though, you CANNOT cut up the 'Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition.'


I had a lady come up to me one morning asking to borrow the scissors.  English wasn't her main language so hand gestures was the main form of communication.  I told her she could use them but had to use them here.  She pointed to the ladies' room, I shook my head disapprovingly and she kept asking for them.  I asked why she needed to take them to the bathroom, I'm thinking maybe she has a valid reason (giving to much credit to patrons, I know I know).  She takes her hands and with one she opens up one of her nostrils and with her other hand she uses her two fingers in a cutting motion towards her nose hairs.... It was at this point I couldn't stifle a laugh and tell her, "Sorry."

Other patrons are more brazen in their endeavors.  I had a lady come up and ask to use some tape, scissors, and stapler; "the Trifecta."  She was very polite and I agreed but told her she had to use them at the circ desk and she complied.  She had an Eastern European accent and she also had a foreign passport and a couple of her pictures.  It seemed like some weak sauce counterfeiting to me, but who am I to judge really?  Maybe she had a bad hair day and wanted to change her picture?

So the lesson of today, no body grooming with the scissors and wipe all of your fingerprints from the stapler if you are running a fake ID hustle from the library.

This Book is the LOL: 'Tough Cookie'

I am not a fan of working the book drop, especially after the weekend.

But I do tend to come across some interesting books.  This one caught my eye this morning and I thought this one would have to fit under my 'Clever Covers' category but once I opened it up, it took me by surprise and made me laugh (a couple of times).

It is funny that it is labeled as a Juvenile Picture book, but the story does not fit this classification at all.  I liken it to a children version of The Wire... except with baked goods lol.  After I scanned it and read it during my break, I left it on the desk of my Info Friend with a suggestion that she use this for her next Children Program.  I blame her for getting me hooked on The Wire. 

Who'da thunk that a Children's Librarian would be the biggest fan of the show at the branch, let alone the president of the Omar fan club.  ::whistles 'The Farmer in the Dell'::

For Shame... Damn You Stereotypical Librarians...

I received a link to this video today from management.  I really am unsure if I should even post it because it would only encourage more horribleness.  *sigh*  I really do not want to be an enabler of librarian lameness but this has got to stop.  Don't these people have books to weed or something?  These videos are so damn cheesy it makes my stomach turn.

You know what else makes my stomach turn --- bookcart drill teams.  The first one I only witnessed in person was at this summer's past ALA Convention and it made me want to run out and ask for the last 10 minutes of my life back.  I solely blame it on the generation gap between the soon-to-be outgoing librarians and all of the young-in's just getting their feet wet.

This leads me no choice but to lead a Librarian Revolution and bring drastic sweeping changes to the entire profession, and whack videos like this will be the first to go.

Don't get me wrong, I love (most of) my (older) coworkers, but I in no way approve of this hot mess.

By the way, what the hell is library management doing sharing YouTube videos during work, oh that's right, you only move up the more inept you are and bonus points for not actually doing any real work.

The Weirdos Come Out at Night...

I rarely work the evening shift, but whenever I do it the branch seems so different.

I step out from the backroom to the circ desk and its like I walked into the Twilight Zone. The patrons are all different too.

This middle aged woman walks up to me at the desk and writes down her last name on a piece of paper and tells me she wants to pay down her fees. I say her last name out loud to make sure I read her chicken scratch correctly and she shoots me a glare. She then proceeds to write down her first name, and I say it out loud as I am bringing her account up. She gives me a nasty look and tells me, "You don't have to say my name, you SHOULDN'T say my name out loud." Good grief woman, if I say your name three times does Beetlejuice pop out of the stacks?? She ends up paying 46 cents towards her fees and walks away.

15 minutes later she comes back up to me and pays a quarter. I asked for her name and this time I didn't speak her name. 5 minutes later she comes back and decides to pay more of her fees, this time a whole freaking penny.

Other than her, I was bored out of my mind so I decided to do some Mythbusting, library style. I kind of feel bad about wasting two stacks of Post-It's but I couldn't find any romance novels in the discard bin to use. Of course the phone book myth worked with the Post-It's, now I need to figure out how to run more Mythbusters experiments at the branch.

The Patron Giveth and the Patron Taketh Away...

My coworker handed me what would have been a nice bookdrop find, an Entertainment Book with most of the coupons intact.
Too bad that right when we opened the public phone line started ringing and it happened to be the patron who dropped it by mistake. They said that they would be on their way to pick it up today.
Seriously people, do we not respect the Law of Finder's Keepers nowadays!?! Next thing you know the Rules of Calling Fives or Shotgun will be moot. It's going to be total anarchy I tell ya!

'Deadly Kingdom'

One man's 21st ranked deadliest animal is another's floppy, fluffy, hopping friend.


If Bunnicula was real, then I would agree with this book, but this is just one harmless lop eared bunny.

Yea, I've Been Reading...

Finally got my hold for 'Sh*t My Dad Says;' was a quick and funny read. I cannot remember the last time I actually laughed out loud reading a book.
The second half of my weekly readings consisted of product manuals and forums for building your own PC. I have no idea what's taken the inner-geek in me so long to do this, I guess buying a Dell or HP has been more convenient. If only I knew how much fun it is to DIY. I am still awaiting my GPU's and I need to pick up a PWM extension cable. I have rearranged and velcroed the cables at least once a day during this past week.
I can now understand why people get all geeked out about their PC's and add plexiglass siding, UV cooling tubes, and have crazy LED setups. It all reminds me of my import days when my friends and I would tool around with our cars and talk about car mods all day long. No one wants the exact same setup as the next, always striving to be unique.
Once a geek, always a geek.

Where it all Falls Down...

So this week marked the first week of Fall semester... SIGH...  It was just last week I was enjoying the ocean breeze.

I am taking one class with my friend/coworker, this is her last semester and she reminds me every single time I see her (punk).  Exactly half of the class is male, not only was this one of the first observations my friend made, but also the professor.  And yes, I have spotted the one annoying classmate.  The one whose comments/questions make class longer than necessary and are completely irrelevant.

They also tend to be socially awkward and do not notice that the whole class is irked at them.  To make matters worse is that she is the female version of Napoleon Dynamite.

Statistically speaking these people suck the life out of any class:
Only 1/8th of their comments contain some sort of relevance to lecture or add something to class and 1/10th of their questions make any sense.  That's makes them 7/8ths a waste of seat space and 9/10ths certified stupid.

My other class is much more entertaining, and not so much the fact that it is dominated by "younger" females, but the professor seems to have a sense of humor I can relate quite well with and I don't think she owns any cats.

So here's to the start of another semester.