Millennium

Millennium is up and running, for the most part. we still could not check in holds and bib records are all over the place. they need to be merged. one of our worst patrons, a real bitch, called us 4 times to ask why her holds were not showing up on her card. she was using our public system at home. she was upset and angry and frantic about her lost holds. lady, this is not a life or death situation. you are not going to die because you lost a couple of holds. we told her they would probably show up tomorrow, or are waiting in the ILL delivery that we cannot check in. if they don't show up tomorrow, we will rerequest them. whenever she calls the library she will reply to our "hello, circulation" by reading off her library card number. no hello, no "this is...", just a number. today i had to stop her and ask, "first, what is your question?" and she got all huffy on me.

otherwise, people were very patient and it wasn't the horrible day that i imagined it would be. we all managed very well, though some are more lost than others. i was lucky tonight as i got to work with the circworker who trained us and she knows much more than our circhead and does not get so flustered.

i issued my first 'live' card tonight to an entitled non-mother new to our town. she had her little 2 year old brat with her. she yammered on as i tried to work the system and i finally said that i would be happy to answer all her questions AFTER i finished entering her card. she didn't like that. when i presented her new card to her to sign, i also offered her a blue permanent marker (all our cards are signed with this blue marker). she asked, "oh, can i sign in black ink. i do everything in black." hmmm. she didn't look Goth. i told her, "no. we ask everyone to sign with a blue marker." fucking nutcase. she wanted to plant her kid in the children's room and work on an adult computer in the next room. i told her that her child was too young to be unsupervised. so, while this non-mother was on the computer her kid: tried to engage the reference librarian in a game of hide and seek in the nonfiction stacks; ran out a door and into the foyer where she got her finger stuck in the bubbler; took our toy Mailbox (Blue's Clues) and emptied all our goodies out of it; tripped up several patrons; kept banging on the toddler computer while 2 staff members tried to shut it down (they would tell her not to touch then she would laugh and bang the keyboard). the second time she ran out into the foyer (she had to open our heavy entrance door to get out) i paged, "if you have a young child, she is in the foyer. please come and get her" knowing full well where the mom was. the girl whined and cried an threw things all the while mom is talking to herself while using the computer. i was shelving books and i heard this woman tell the girl that she had a lollipop and to come and get it. i went over to her and told her we did not allow food to be consumed in the library and she replied, "i'm only telling her i have a lollipop so she'll come here. i don't have one." so, of course the kid whined for the lollipop for a half an hour. i hope to God i never see them again. if she does show up again, and more of the same occurs, we were told to get the PIC and they will ask her to leave. i just wish we could revoke library cards for bad behavior...and stupidity.