Customer: “And al-leg-edly…”

Cashier: “Sorry, did you mean allegedly?”

Customer: “No, it’s al-leg-edly.”

I work in a pretty big and popular library; movies on DVD and BluRay especially never stay on the shelves for long.

Today, a patron approaches me because she can’t find one of them.

Patron: “I checked the catalog; it says that movie should be available.”

I go to check the shelf again and then call up the item’s record at the reference desk. The movie hasn’t been checked out in three years! Safe to say, it has probably been stolen.

Me: “I’m so sorry, that movie appears to have gone missing a while ago. The record needs to be updated; the item’s no longer here.”

Patron: “No, but it says in the catalog that it’s available.”

Me: “Yes, that’s a faulty record. I’ll delete it right away. I’m sorry I can’t get that movie for you.”

The patron turns around her phone to show me the catalog.

Patron: “But see, it’s right here!”

I tried to explain to her how our catalog works, but eventually, she just left in a huff.

Related:
A Catalog Of Errors, Part 8
A Catalog Of Errors, Part 7
A Catalog Of Errors, Part 6
A Catalog Of Errors, Part 5
A Catalog Of Errors, Part 4

In the small public library where I work, we have free activities for children during school breaks. For autumn break this year, we have, among other things, an arts and crafts table. Kids can colour, construct toys out of empty toilet paper rolls, etc. We ask kids and their minders to pick up after themselves when they’re done. A grandmother and her kids come up to the information desk.

Grandmother: “Hi. I just wanted to let you know how great it is that you have all these activities. My grandkids are visiting over school break and I wouldn’t know what to do with them, otherwise.”

Me: “Thank you. Our young guests seem to appreciate it.”

Grandmother: “You’re going to have a lot of clean-up on your hands, though.”

They promptly left. Feeling suspicious, I went to the arts and crafts table and found it completely wrecked. Coloured paper was thrown everywhere, colouring pens and glue sticks without their caps were thrown on the floor, and the toilet paper roll toys my colleague had painstakingly constructed earlier in the week for inspiration were stolen.

I know the culprit, because we checked the table just before this family arrived and it looked fine. I know I’m not supposed to say this as a librarian, but I really hope those visitors won’t come back.

This is during the global health crisis and the government has just recommended that all public libraries should close down for a period of time. We are all very anxious to find out if that means that the municipality will decide that we’ll have to close down completely.

We have been closed for visitors for a month and a half, but patrons can still put books on hold and make an appointment to collect them outside. The appointments are to make sure we don’t get a huge crowd of people outside at the same time, and also to give us time for things like answering phone calls and emails, hunting down books, making sure we can arrange the hand-off in a way that won’t spread disease, etc. In between all this, we’re fielding calls from desperate patrons who are now unable to get essential computer and Internet access. 

Most regular patrons are very understanding and grateful for the very limited services we are still allowed to provide. Then, there are patrons like this lady on the phone.

Patron: “Hello, I want to pick up my books.”

Me: “Of course! If I can have your name and details, I’ll check if your reservations have come in.”

Patron: “My name is [Patron]. There should be a bag there for me.”

I go to check, and sure enough, there is a bag with the patron’s name on it with a note from a colleague that she’ll call and make an appointment to pick them up later. Apparently, this is “later.” Fair enough.

Me: “All right, I have your bag here ready for pickup. The first free slot today is 13:45; will that be convenient for you?”

It is now around noon, so that’s a pretty good slot.

Patron: “No, of course not. I’m heading into town right now; I’ll be there in ten minutes!”

Me: “I’m sorry, that time slot is already taken. It’s not really possible to make an appointment with that short a notice.”

Patron: “What? You can’t do this. Are you expecting me to plan my entire day around your scheduling? I’ll be there in ten minutes and I expect my books to be there when I am!” 

I want to say, “Oh, so you’re expecting us to reschedule our entire day around your poor planning?” However, I am a customer service veteran, so I know I am not allowed to say that.

Me: “It’s really important for us to keep to this scheduling because it’s the only way we can keep offering this service. We don’t want people to crowd each other outside and risk spreading the disease.”

Patron: “Oh, I promise I’ll keep my distance. Besides, you’re closed anyway; it’s not like you’ve got anything better to do.”

I’ve been on pickup duty for an hour already. I’m wearing latex gloves I’m allergic to and a visor I can’t hear through, I’ve been bathing in hand sanitizer since early morning, I’m warm, I’m stressed, and the phone has been ringing off the hook since I started my shift.

Let’s just say that I scheduled this woman’s unscheduled pickup while grinding my teeth with anger, because our policy is to try to extend our poor excuse for a library service as far as we can, but I have to say, there are people who definitely do not deserve it.

And yep, you guessed it. She definitely did not keep her distance when she came to pick up her books.

I’m waiting in line for the checkout machines at the library. In front of me is an adult with a four-year-old child. The child is hugging a picture book and singing softly, “I’m so happy, I’m so happy.”

I wasn’t having a bad day, but it still made my day better to see a child so happy with a book.

This story is part of our Feel Good roundup for January 2021!

Read the next Feel Good roundup for January 2021 story!

Read the Feel Good roundup for January 2021!