Totally Lost in Space or Jekyll & Hyde!!

I had a lady come in and ask for Federal tax form 1040x. She was actually the second person who had asked for that form that day. Both people explained to me that they had some problem with their stimulus check. The lady left with her two pages of the form...happier than all get out.

The next day the lady comes back in. She throws two copies of the 2nd page of the form across the desk at me. She said in a nasty way, "you can keep these...I didn't need this form. I'm not doing anything with exemptions. I didn't know you had a book with the forms in it. You should tell people you have that book, so when they don't know what form they need they can look." Then she stormed off toward the circ desk.

First, when people come in and request a tax form I don't second guess if they know what they're talking about...I guess I should start doing that!!! How would I know she didn't know what form she needed... I have never been good at reading minds! Second, why is it my problem she requested the wrong form. I had an errand down at the circ desk ( I suppose five minutes had lapsed) there she was at the circ desk just nice as pie visiting like nothing had happened!! You just have to wonder what possesses people?!

Nudist camps in Minnesota

The first summer I worked at the library I had a middle aged couple come in with an interesting question. They wanted to know where the nudist camps are in Minnesota. This couple was not Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt material so you can imagine the visuals I had. I was able to find a web site for a camp near Park Rapids. Oh boy!

The case of the very skinny book!!

I was shelving a cart of items...nothing wacko about that! I was putting a book on the shelf when another book shot off the shelf at me. I caught it mid-air. My mind registered the fact that this book felt awfully skinny. When I opened the book, it was completely empty of pages...it was just the empty cover. Now that's wacko!! Many theories have been kicked around as to this books demise...I think it's just something librarians like to do!!

No wackos today!

I am a bit disappointed. I've spent most of my day in my office, so I haven't had any contact with any wackos today. Darn! One of our usual suspects was browsing through the holds on the hold shelf, just to see if there was something he liked. He had the good grace to ask if he was invading someone's privacy by doing this, so that's not really wacky. In fact, I thought that was very perceptive of him.

WHERE AM I?

As i was standing at the circulation desk a young man using the phone asked me. Where am I? I replied " The library" He said "no, what town am I in? I told him Detroit Lakes and he relayed it to the person on the phone. Think he spent the night in the drunk tank next door.

Not a book store!

I've actually had two different incidents like this. Patron calls with a title...I find the title in our system. I asked the patron if she wanted me to put the book on hold for her. She was totally taken aback, and said in a very animated voice that no she wanted to buy the book!! I explained that we don't sell our collection we borrow books out to people to read. She had no clue...and actually sounded as though she didn't believe me. I told her she would have to go to a bookstore to purchase the book. She asked where there was a bookstore, so I put a plug in for "Book World" here in DL. I somehow got the impression this particular patron doesn't read much!!?

Idaho writes:

Ah, where to begin. Via e-mail K. simply gave us her first name and asked that we renew her book. No patron last name, no library card number, no title of the book. Obviously K. is the only person that uses this library.

Then we have the upset parent. Her first question? "Has my son been in here using the computers?" No name provided, no description. This irate parent wanted to see a list of all people who had used the computers that date. Sure--I'll whip that right out for you.

Ever have a patron who becomes upset because you don't charge a fine? Fellow brings in a book he knows is overdue. It's scanned through the computer which provides information that it is late, but within the grace period. When the patron is advised he doesn't owe money he becomes furious, pounds his fist on the desk and demands to know why we bother to set due dates or fines if we're not going to collect money. Guess I could have asked for $10 and stuck it in my pocket.

And the tried and true I just love. Young man comes to the circulation desk and asks if we have books. Not a book, not a particular title, just, "Do you have books?" After several rounds of questioning it was finally determined he was looking for something in particular. I thought maybe he'd checked out so many DVD's he never realized anything existed in this building other than the spinners holding the DVD's.

A year or so ago we had a steady patron who weekly checked out DVD's , in large amounts. Eventually we didn't have enough on hand to fill her ever growing demand. She learned how to place requests. But somewhere along the line a boo-boo was made and a title she ordered came in book form. Her response upon seeing the book with the stack of requested DVD's, "What am I supposed to do with that?!"

Then we have those who enjoy providing input for the physical placement of items in the library, as in, "get rid of those books so there's more room for computers." YAHOO!!!

Why we are tracking the wackos

I work in a small public library in a midwestern town in a part of the United States known for being nice to people. But what civilians, i.e., those who don't work in libraries, generally don't know, is how many total wackos we enounter every day at the library.

For example, I came to work this morning to find 4 or 5 staff members discussing the latest incident with one of our regular wackos. The incident was pretty typical-she can't find the DVD she checked out last week, and is convinced that someone here at the library is conspiring against her. This has happened before. So I assured the staff that we just had to wait until one of her other personalities showed up, and then the wacko lady would be able to find the missing DVD.

The staff also told me that they had had several other wacko incidents last night they thought I should know about. One involved a woman who marched up to the service desk and demanded to know if her son had been on the public computers today. She did not identify herself or her son. Now, we are a small town, but not that small, and we are a pretty busy library. This particular wacko was pretty upset when she found out that
1. We don't know who she is.
2. We don't know her son
3. We don't keep track of who has been in the library and
4. We don't keep information on who has been on the computers.
Yes, I know it's many years later than 1984, and in spite of the Bush administration and the so-called "Patriot Act", we still aren't Big Brother.

The next wacko emailed and wanted us to renew her book. Here is a verbatim transcription of her email: "Please renew my book. Kim". Great! We must give Kim such good customer service that she believes she is the only one who uses the library. And that she is the only Kim in our world.

So, with all the wackos we have to deal with, we decided the best way to deal with them is to laugh at them. Yes, we do mean AT THEM. Other staff in our library will be adding to the Wacko Tracker as these things come up. C'mon everybody, join the fun!