Today was a stressful day at the library. Why is it that on one of our busiest days of the week, we only have three librarians and several clerical people on staff (and NO security guard), when on normal weekdays (which are much calmer than Saturdays) we have anywhere from five to seven librarians and even more clerical folks AND a security guard???

I suppose tis not mine to ask. But I suspect that in the case of few librarians and clerical folks, it is because this is a way of ensuring that we don’t have to work too many Saturdays. Personally, I would rather work more Saturdays and retain a sense of safety and sanity than work fewer but pressure-cooker Saturdays. But the security guard question is mystifying.

Here are some highlights.
In the children’s room a five-year old girl came to complain to me that there was a boy in the girls room. The “boy” turned out to be an incontinent 65+ years man who said he didn’t want to wait for the boys room because ‘he might have an accident’ … When he finally came out, both he and the bathroom smelled like a sewer. But at least he was apologetic and not belligerent.

Downstairs they had a guy in a cowboy hat yell at the staff when they told him he had a fine. Also, there were several people who just were super-demanding, including this one guy who is hmm… a bit off-kilter and who constantly talks to himself and comes to ask interminable, obscure (and somewhat pointless) reference questions, one after the other, for a long, long time… and yet one feels one has to accommodate him, as he has a screw loose and has been known to walk into the library with parts from a gun in the past, to ask question of how to fix it. (!!!!)