A young boy asked for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on CD. I checked and our CD was out but we still had the book on cassette tape. I told him he could have that if he wanted. He gave me a funny look and said, "What's a cassette?" (YIKES! old technology already!) When I showed him, he thought that his family wouldn't even have anything to play that 'thing' on.
A grandma came in 3 times in one day trying to straighten out her account. She had several books on there that she swore she'd already returned. By the third visit she was getting a bit upset. Only one book remained that she was certain was back. We held quite a long discussion. I remind myself during these sessions that God is at work IN ME! (patience...kindness...goodness...selfcontrol...) When I couldn't find the book on the shelf I asked her to please check at home one more time. She told me again, that she was very organized, and NO it couldn't be under her bed, behind the couch, on the floor, in the car or anywhere except here at the library! She'd brought it back. Period. End of conversation. So I marked the book as 'lost' and took it off her card. I have to give her credit, after that long tiresome conversation, she at least called me to apologize. It seems she hadn't really brought it back. (imagine) Her granddaughters were supposed to do that and they thought she wasn't done with it. So there it was, sitting on her table at home!
A 5th grader spends an hour playing 'Medal of Honor' (a war game) on the computer, then an hour wandering the library (since he has to be off an hour because of our policy) pestering others and us, then another hour on the computer playing his game again. I kick him off after an hour with 5 minutes left before we close. He says just before he gets up, "Can I finish my homework?" I must have looked confused since we were closing everything up, "Can you finish your homework in five minutes?" He answers "I just need to find one word on the computer" ( he needed to define a vocabulary word and find a picture to go with it.) I told him
NO. and not too nicely. It would have been worse if I'd been his mother!
"How many miles in a light year?" That's an easy google answer that I could do without googling but since I hadn't actually thought about this in awhile I did it anyway, "186,000 miles per second. Translated to nearly 6 trillion miles in one year. (almost the national debt. Yikes!)
"Can you renew my (son's, daughters, mine, husband's, friend's) books over the phone?" (yes.)
I know you're good on the computer, can you help me get into my Yahoo account, download pictures, print a page, find this site....
I need to copy these pages back to back. Will you help me do that. (This one I hate because it usually takes me 4 tries before I have it right)
Looking at 8 pages of a Junior Class Reading list "What's good?" (She didn't pick any of my choices)
When's the next computer available?
Did you find my son's bookbag? (Lost and Found has everything from car keys, to billfolds, cellphones, jewlery,hats,coats,boots,socks,shoes,shirts,backpacks,and homework)
