10:00 - Noon
- It’s pouring rain outside, people are lined up at the door. Circ Person takes pity on them and opens the door a minute early. Most stride purposefully to the Internet terminals, at least one homeless guy with a ton of bags goes upstairs, probably to sleep. Welcome to winter in Scumtown
- I’ve forgotten to open the meeting room door for the Women’s English Conversation class.
- MS Word signup. He comes back a few minutes later and asks if we have another computer that’s “faster”. Turns out it won’t open his disk, a problem we’ve unfortunately been having a lot of lately. I tell him to try the other one, though I doubt it’ll work, either. Time to e-mail the systems admin guy.
- A child comes in the door and screams “Daddy! Daddy! Come!!!” at the bleedin’ top of her lungs. He shushes her a bit, but it’s clear she’s a loud child. Hope they don't stay too long.
- Neither Word disk drive will work, do we have anything else? No. I tell him where the nearest computer café is and he says "But I just want to print out a page." Yes…and I’ve just told you we have no other Word computers. I always love how if something is “just going to take a minute” it should defy all rules of the library and of logic and reality.
- Well, then, do we have any videos about driving? Yes, we do. He then appears to have problems getting a library card over at Circ.
- A regular female patron comes up to the desk and starts patting all of her pockets and muttering "I’ll lose my head next." She’s looking for her keys, which she trades for the Buy and Sell. After I give it to her she says "Yes, we have no more window seats?" Ummm…? She gestures to the one chair we have squeezed in by the window and I say that most of the seating is upstairs. She doesn't look very happy and ends up at the chair over by the newspapers. Don’t really know what she expected me to do, magically produce a Barcolounger and set it up for her by the window, perhaps.
- Buy and Sell. Sorry, someone’s just taken it. He’ll come back in a few minutes. Good luck.
- "I’m trying to activate my account, but there’s nothing to activate it." Huh? I have no idea what kind of account he’s talking about. I go over to the computer and he’s at Hotmail. I scroll down a tiny bit to the Activate My Account button. He’s a bit chagrined, as he should be.
- Buy and Sell still out? Yes. (It’s only been 10 minutes, dude.)
- Buy and Sell woman comes down to get a golf pencil, tsking when she picks up one that isn’t sharp enough. At least she didn’t actually complain about them being too dull, as she did last time I saw her.
- An old guy wants the Buy and Sell. Sorry, it's out.
- A senior lady wearing a plastic rainhat like my grandma used to carry in her purse asks about Cold Pursuit by T. Jefferson Parker and The Thai Amulet by Lyn Hamilton. She was going to plant some bulbs today, but not in this weather. We commiserate about the rain.
- Atlas to find a place in North America
- Old Buy and Sell guy asks if it’s back and when I say no he starts rapidly ranting about how there’s nothing in the library, we should at least have the Lumberman (?), the Americans bought it, rant about Americans, they said the Columbia (river, I presume) was theirs, it’s not, but they’re good people, doesn’t matter where you’re born, Timbuktu or anywhere, something about former Premier Bennett, 3 farms, dead brothers…and keeps on ranting right out the door. Whoa.
- Buy and Sell comes back, but now I think the dude is on the Net. Hopefully ranting old man won’t rant back in the door.
- Pen and lined paper. Here's a pen, but we don't have lined paper, try the recycling bin for scrap.
- Someone comes in to drop off a bunch of Co-Op radio flyers and wants me to send them to all branches. Oh, all right.
- Nearest phone is across the street. She doesn’t look too impressed.
- The video series Canada: a people’s history. Not at our branch but she lives near the one that does have it.
- Buy and Sell dude comes up and says he’s looked around for the person reading it and can’t find them. I tell him it’s back. He’s surprised, as he’d been keeping an eye out for the person. Yeah, that's really easy to do when you're using the Internet, man. I tell him they must’ve snuck by him. If the other person who wants it comes back, he’ll only be a few minutes. I sure hope ranting old man doesn’t come back.
- You can get a library card to use the Net over there.
- Buy and Sell comes back. I hope that’s the end of the struggle for it today.
- The couple who went over to get a card for the Net are having a discussion over whether they can stand to wait until the next available time, 12:30. I hear him say maybe they should ask about somewhere else, so as he comes around to the desk I tell him where the Internet cafes are.
- Phone question: Which state’s abbreviation is IA?
- A couple who came in to use the bathroom are now pressed against the picture window, hopefully just hugging, with their huge shopping cart full of bags beside them. Ah, that explains why he was loudly teasing her about running him over with a shopping cart as they came in, they actually have one.
- You can throw your coffee cup out over there.
- A very quiet, monotone man asks about signing up for the Internet
- A guy wants to download a picture of himself from a floppy to his Web profile. Sorry, can’t do that here.
- A boy asks for Howie Bowles, which turns out to be a children’s fiction book that’s out right now.
- Kid and dad need help printing from Internet. Kid has about 8 windows up and less than 5 minutes left of Net time. Happily, we manage to get his picture of Stone Cold Steve Austin printed.
- Word. Hope you don't need to use a disk.
- Needs to use the Internet and is shocked that he needs a library card, even if he only wants to use it to apply for Unemployment Insurance. Another case of the "But I onlies." Send him over to checkout desk for a card.