Tiny Little Librarian

... musings of a too-short girl in the high-stacks world of librarianship

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It don't matter if you're black or white

posted Sunday, 24 September 2006
The woman on the word processor comes to tell me the man next to her has brought his own paper and is printing tons of stuff out. (She's brought her own, too, but paid ahead of time and says "If he's not paying, I'm not going to.") You can bring your own paper, but you still have to pay 20 cents per page for the toner, etc. I go over and ask if he brought his own paper. He says yes. I tell him he still has to pay. He says he knows and he will. I ask him to go and pay now, he refuses. When he's done, he comes over to the desk...
 
Guy: Why did you think I wasn't going to pay?
Me: Because you were putting in your own paper and you hadn't paid beforehand.
Guy: But I gave you my name and the time [on the signup sheet].
Me: Yes, but that doesn't mean you're going to pay.
Guy: Because I'm dressed like this, you think I'm not going to pay? [Yeah, that jeans and t-shirt really makes a statement. He was probably trying to imply it was because he was black, but I didn't rise to the bait.] I'm a user of this library!
Me: Yes, everybody here is.
Guy:I'm not everybody!
Me: You are to me.
Guy: I'm not everybody! [Yeah, to me you're now nobody.]
Me:  Please go and pay, sir.