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Saturday, March 10, 2012

More Library Insanity

Another snapshot of my day at the library:

Soon after opening on Saturday morning, the phone rang. When we answer the phone, we say the name of the library. The patron on the other end launched into her story without preamble: "I have a wooden end table that we keep a humidifier on and after awhile we moved the humidifier and I guess it leaked at some point because now there are white rings on the table that are the size of the humidifier. What do I do about that?"

I took a moment. "You do know you called the library, right?"

"Yes. I called the bus station first and he gave me the number."

Right. Of course. So I put the patron on hold and consulted the Google, because really, what else was I going to do? I mean, I'm sure there's a Reader's Digest "How to clean anything" style of volume that we have, but sometimes, you look for the fast answer, which will theoretically the most up to date.

Apparently, you can take a hot iron, and a clean t-shirt, and iron for a few seconds at a time to get rid of the white rings. See. You learned something. I did too. The bus station doesn't know how to fix your end table; the library does.

4 comments:

  1. what is this i don't even

    Bus station, what? And then? I'm so confused. I know anywhere you work with the public you deal with stupid people, but I'd have hoped the library would at least be a little better. Alas.

    -Lennon

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    Replies
    1. I know, right?

      A facet of the library is also, of course, that it's free. So, there's that.

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  2. Nice. Maybe my library can help me figure out how to remove the strange coating on our bathroom floor (was there when we moved in). I bet they'd be much more helpful than Home Depot.

    I was not aware that you worked at a library. How cool is that! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, maybe! If they're not wiling to Google it for you, they probably have home improvement books ;)

      Working at the library can be very cool. Or very frustrating, and frequently strange. See above!

      Delete