I just had a patron come up to me and ask "where is the art section?" ummm...we're a MEDICAL library...
We have also had not one, but TWO patrons yell at us across the library for help. Both times it was for something related to Facebook. Are you kidding me?! I always find it to be the rudest thing ever when someone is too lazy to just walk the 10 feet to the desk & instead they'd rather wave their arms frantically until someone notices them or they just yell over to us & disrupt everyone else in the library who might be trying to do actual work.
Also just had a woman walk in & say she "needs to check out the pocket dictionary". Sorry, but again we're a MEDICAL library so we only have regular sized dictionaries or dictionaries specifically related to pharmaceutical or medical terms. This reminds me of the story someone from an aquaculture library sent in about a patron coming in on several occasions and demanding a copy of the Koran.
Showing posts with label rude library patrons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rude library patrons. Show all posts
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Friday, January 20, 2012
My coworkers are awesome.
Last weekend we had a patron come in wanting to check out a very expensive medical textbook. Coworker #1 looked up his account and found that his account had expired and he had two unreturned items from almost a year ago (one of them was another copy of the very same expensive textbook). She then explained to him that due to the status of his account, he could not check out the book (this was a reserve item kept behind our circulation desk). He then proceeded to reach over the counter (one of my biggest pet peeves) and grab the book anyways! Saying "oh, I'm just going to look at it anyways" and backing away all while #1 is explaining that he needs to clear up the issues with his account before he can use reserve materials.
Shortly after this, Coworker #2 came back from lunch and found out what the situation was. Keep in mind this girl is tiny - maybe 5 feet tall - always very fashionable, and wearing a classic pair of kitten heels, and she wasn't having any of it! She walked up to the patron sitting at the computer and said "sir, I'm going to have to take that book back from you" and explained once again that due to the status of his account he was not able to take the book from the reserves section. He acted innocent and gave the book back. After getting back to the desk, she realized that he hadn't complained because he was still using the CD-ROM from the book! So she marched back over to him and took the CD-ROM back too.
All of the sudden he was thanking them and being polite, meanwhile when it had been just one girl earlier in the day, he was incredibly rude and pushy. Funny how that works.
Don't mess with the little people!
Shortly after this, Coworker #2 came back from lunch and found out what the situation was. Keep in mind this girl is tiny - maybe 5 feet tall - always very fashionable, and wearing a classic pair of kitten heels, and she wasn't having any of it! She walked up to the patron sitting at the computer and said "sir, I'm going to have to take that book back from you" and explained once again that due to the status of his account he was not able to take the book from the reserves section. He acted innocent and gave the book back. After getting back to the desk, she realized that he hadn't complained because he was still using the CD-ROM from the book! So she marched back over to him and took the CD-ROM back too.
All of the sudden he was thanking them and being polite, meanwhile when it had been just one girl earlier in the day, he was incredibly rude and pushy. Funny how that works.
Don't mess with the little people!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Puppet show preview?
This one from Kathleen in Texas. Pretty sad that sometimes the parents are worse than the children.
When I managed a small branch library, a young, over-earnest (and very entitled) mother came to me before the puppet show scheduled for that afternoon. She wanted to know if she could pre-screen the show for appropriateness for a 2-year-old. With a very straight face, I explained that this was a live performance and therefore could not be previewed at all. I also explained that this would be a capacity crowd and that it was not appropriate for a 2-year-old, and more suited to a 5-8 year-old audience. She was adamant that she pre-screen the puppet show until I had to just say “no.” I was busy handing out tickets to children and explaining to parents that the show would be very full and that if they could, please send the child in alone.
Most parents were very understanding and went to sit elsewhere in the branch. As I was helping another customer just before the show started, I saw uber-mom sneak into the show with her 2-year-old who promptly began to scream when the lights went out. The puppeteers actually had to stop the show and ask her to remove her child before they could be heard over the poor toddler’s cries (and these ladies had some good lungs on them, too). Of course, no one involved in this got an apology from the mom; not the staff, the puppeteers or the other members of the audience. Some folks got no ‘couth. Nope, no ‘couth at all.
When I managed a small branch library, a young, over-earnest (and very entitled) mother came to me before the puppet show scheduled for that afternoon. She wanted to know if she could pre-screen the show for appropriateness for a 2-year-old. With a very straight face, I explained that this was a live performance and therefore could not be previewed at all. I also explained that this would be a capacity crowd and that it was not appropriate for a 2-year-old, and more suited to a 5-8 year-old audience. She was adamant that she pre-screen the puppet show until I had to just say “no.” I was busy handing out tickets to children and explaining to parents that the show would be very full and that if they could, please send the child in alone.
Most parents were very understanding and went to sit elsewhere in the branch. As I was helping another customer just before the show started, I saw uber-mom sneak into the show with her 2-year-old who promptly began to scream when the lights went out. The puppeteers actually had to stop the show and ask her to remove her child before they could be heard over the poor toddler’s cries (and these ladies had some good lungs on them, too). Of course, no one involved in this got an apology from the mom; not the staff, the puppeteers or the other members of the audience. Some folks got no ‘couth. Nope, no ‘couth at all.
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