These Patrons are the Best...

No, seriously, these patrons are the best.  I know I can be highly cynical and snarky but this is a break from that (for this post).

1 lb. of diabetes in a nicely wrapped box

Last Saturday on the desk, one of my regular patrons walked by to say hi and reached into her ginormous purse and pulled this out --- 1 lb. of Trader Joe's choclate.  When she handed it to me, she kept thanking me for helping her all those times and that this was just for me.

She's an elderly patron who is pretty adept at using computers and the internet but still has some troubles, which is where I come in.  I have been at this branch for almost 6 months and I helped her my first day there.  My supervisor made a comment about how I "stole" one of her patrons away from her since she used to ask her for help all the time.

"I don't like it unless it's brand new, brand new..." --- Rhymefest

Yesterday, a patron donated a handful of books.  While I was going through the ILS to see if we or another branch needed them, I came across these 4 titles, all of which are fairly new releases.  Between these four books there was a combined count of 990 holds.  This branch is much smaller than my previous one, but the amount of new books donated is astounding. 
Patrons at my older branch would complain and bitch about "What?? 200 holds?  Why are there so many holds!? I'll never get this book, what good is the library if I can't get the book I want, blah blah blah." 
At this branch, a patron will reply, "Oh wow, that's a lot of holds.  Don't bother placing the hold, I'll just buy the book and I'll donate it when I'm done."  And by-golly they do just that.  I have added so many "hot titles" to our collection, as well as other branches in the system, from these generous patrons.

Now, if only we could get some donations for The Hunger Games, that title alone has almost just as many holds as these four books!