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Variety pack
The other day, at the public library, I witnessed the world's most obnoxious patron. It started with him swearing at the clerk at the circ. desk and went down hill from there. Standing behind him in line, I was privy to his complaint. Actually, the idiot was loud enough the whole library was privy to it. Apparently, after being out of town for a little over a week, he came home to a message that an interlibrary loan (ILL) had arrived for him. He goes in and finds that it's not with the holds, where they usually are. He goes to the circ. desk and discovers they've changed how it works. Instead of people getting them off the hold shelves, they must now have a circ. worker get them. The guy is furious that he wasn't informed of this change (which was less than a week old and post-dated the arrival of his ILL). The guy doesn't understand 1) why the change and 2) why he wasn't informed and states so in loud and RUDE language. The clerk tells him he can not swear in the library and he needs to leave. The guy insists on talking to her boss. One of the librarians comes over and explains that they have had problems with people taking ILL books and bypassing the checkout desk, so they had to change their procedure. There was no general announcement, because ILL procedure has never been generally avalible on the web or in the library -- you need to ask. When the procedure was changed, the messages informing people were changed to signify the new pickup location. If he will give his card to the library clerk, she'll get his book and he can leave. The guy complains that he's used ILL for two years and never needed his card for picking up the books, nor has he had to ever deal with check out. In other words, he's one of the people who led to the changes he finds so offensive! He keeps going on and on about how he should have been informed and why wasn't there an announcement and he's been out of town, so the fact that they were informing people whose books came in after the change didn't do him any good. After about 5 minutes, the clerk threatened to call security. It still took 15 minutes to get the guy to leave. Before he went he said "So if I go home and get my library card -- which is just sitting on my desk! -- and come back in 30 minutes, I can get my book, right?" The clerk told him to come back tomorrow.
In sadder news, one of th big local stories is about a three month old MinPin puppy that was beaten to death by three boys, ages 6, 6 and 8. Sickening. Even worse? Only one family is dealing with their child's behavior. One father has publicly stated that the boy knows he did something wrong, but is young enough that he doesn't quite understand why it was wrong. Even so, he is shocked and disturbed and his son will be getting counseling to address his behavior. He also has offered to pay a portion of the vet bills that resulted from teh incident. Of the other two, neitehr will admit that their boys were in the wrong. One family admits their son was there, but says he didn't do anything -- like that makes it okay. the other family won't even admit that. That bothers me more than what the kids did. Kids do horrible and stupid things, but they shouldn't be given a free pass. Not to mention, where were these kids parents? Why were their children even on someone else's property without supervision? The family who owned the dog has already put their house up for sale -- they don't feel comfortable living on that block anymore. They're also planning to sue that familes for the vet costs.
In sadder news, one of th big local stories is about a three month old MinPin puppy that was beaten to death by three boys, ages 6, 6 and 8. Sickening. Even worse? Only one family is dealing with their child's behavior. One father has publicly stated that the boy knows he did something wrong, but is young enough that he doesn't quite understand why it was wrong. Even so, he is shocked and disturbed and his son will be getting counseling to address his behavior. He also has offered to pay a portion of the vet bills that resulted from teh incident. Of the other two, neitehr will admit that their boys were in the wrong. One family admits their son was there, but says he didn't do anything -- like that makes it okay. the other family won't even admit that. That bothers me more than what the kids did. Kids do horrible and stupid things, but they shouldn't be given a free pass. Not to mention, where were these kids parents? Why were their children even on someone else's property without supervision? The family who owned the dog has already put their house up for sale -- they don't feel comfortable living on that block anymore. They're also planning to sue that familes for the vet costs.