Finding That Book Is A Fantasy
(I work in a small library.)
Customer: “Where is your fantasy section?”
Me: “Are you looking for graphic novels or regular books?”
Customer: “Just show me the fantasy section.”
Me: “I’m sorry. We don’t have a separate section for fantasy; it will just be in general fiction.”
Customer: *looking exasperated* “I’m looking for a book I was reading a couple of years ago.”
Me: “Okay, I can look it up for you on the computer; what was it called?”
Customer: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Who was the author?”
Customer: “I can’t remember.”
Me: “Umm…”
Customer: “It was a fantasy book, and I’d know it if I saw the cover, so I need a fantasy section.”
Me: *thinking on my feet* “Can you give me an idea of the plot? I can ask a couple of colleagues if they can help.”
Customer: *yelling* “I don’t know. I just want to see the cover! Why don’t you have a fantasy section?”
Me: “Because this is small library run entirely by volunteers, and we don’t have space for one. Have you thought about going into the city centre library and asking there? Or looking in a bookshop?”
(The customer stomped off, muttering something about paying council tax for libraries. Don’t think she got the point about us all being unpaid volunteers.)
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
