The Return of the Phantom

You know how in most relationships you get to the point where the irritating things your partner does go from being cute to just irritating?

That's the point I think I'm getting to with the library.

We have so many customers and volunteers who are just as sweet and cute as they can be. But eventually, their little quirks start to drive you mad.

For example, this very dear old lady came to the library one time and got B., our librarian, to help her with the internet. He sat with her for an hour looking things up for her. She was so grateful and we all felt very happy that we could help her. Unfortunately, we set a dangerous precedent. Now, she feels entitled to this kind of service. She wants to sit behind the reference desk and have B. do all of her internet searching for her every time she comes in. Even if there is a line of people waiting for his help at the desk. Now, she certainly needs help and we are happy to do it but this causes quite a problem when you only have two and a half librarians to cover 48 hours worth of open library time in a given week.

We also have a volunteer who is very sweet and very dedicated. She has been volunteering for years and she never misses a shift. HOWEVER...she will only work with adult fiction books. She will not do returns with children's items or media items. Also, she has to have one certain cart and if we have stuff on it, we have to stop and unload it and move the items to another cart just so she can have that one particular cart. Also, she wants to have plenty of time to go through our booksale books before anyone else sees them and then go through our cash drawers to find state quarters that she is missing. I sometimes wonder how much time a volunteer actually saves us if she is so high maintenance.

I can think of many examples like these. People that we genuinely like but whose little quirks are starting to make us crazy!

Speaking of crazy, the Phantom of the Library came back in today to go through the whole irritating spiel with me again. I am so sick of talking about the Charles Dance t.v. version of Phantom with these people. You would think it was the most important thing in the world that they see this movie. If I have to deal with them much more, I may be the one to run mad through the basement of the library! I think we may eventually just take up a collection and buy them the stupid video just so we don't have to hear about it anymore! Damn you Charles Dance and your t.v. Phantom version!

(if you haven't read my tale of woe about the Phantom yet...follow the link below)
http://deweydiaries.blogspot.com/2005/02/phantom-of-library.html

The Phantom of the Library

As if I don't suffer enough little indignities each day in my job...

A woman came in today to pick up a hold. It was the DVD "Phantom of the Opera" with Lon Cheney. When she saw the DVD, she started freaking out.

"Why do you people keep doing this to us?!! We don't want the Lon Cheney version. We want the tv miniseries with Burt Lancaster. And Teri Polo. And Charles Dance."

I looked up the version that she wanted and noticed that it was currently on order for the library. And that this woman was on the wait list. I told her that we had ordered it and that she was first in line for it but that it hadn't come in yet.

"That's a lie! You are just not telling the truth! We have been waiting for this movie SINCE NOVEMBER!!! You're just lying to me."

Like I would lie about something as serious as Phantom of the Opera with Charles Dance.

So finally, I told her, "Well, you can either wait for this version to come in or, if you really need it, you try and find it at Blockbuster."

She gave me a withering look and yelled, "I'm not going to PAY for a video!"

And then she stormed off as I said, "Well, I guess it's not that important, huh?"

I hate being yelled at for irrational reasons. After this unsettling altercation, I decided there was only one thing to do. I put the LON CHENEY version BACK on hold for her. I can't wait to see her face when it comes in AGAIN. Maybe it will finally push her into madness. I picture her roaming the basement of the library with her face covered in genre stickers, haunting us all with her singing and organ playing.