Dec 27 2008
Shushing the Patrons
I know it’s been a bit - I’ve been swamped with school stuff for the last month, but now that is done (all A’s, thankyouverymuch) and Christmas is done, so I can get down to the serious business of blogging. Or something like that. As if I’m ever really serious.
Anyway, so the other day, I shushed a patron for the very first time, ever. It is obviously not something I am in a habit of doing, but these kids deserved it.
First, a bit of explanation: We put security strips into our books, so that if someone tried to walk out of the library without checking out, the security system would go off, and they would be caught. Which is fine and dandy in theory, but in reality, 99.99% of the time when the security system goes off, it’s because we (meaning the circulation clerks at the front desk) missed desensitizing a book on accident, and so the patron has to come back to the desk so we can fix our mistake. Yay us.
I always feel bad when this happens, because most patrons look shocked and worried when the security gates beep. I can always tell when a patron thinks, “Oh no! I didn’t steal anything, but the circ clerk is going to think that I’m trying to - this is horrible!” They flush red, and start stammering about how they checked everything out, and they don’t understand why the gates are going off, and in general, are extremely worried. All because I screwed up. That sucks.
So the other day, I messed up (yet again) and a patron beeped when going through the front door. She took it particularly hard - I could tell she was hating all of the eyes that were staring at her (the beeping is noisy, so naturally the whole library looks when it is set off) and she was just very nervous about the whole thing.
I told her to come back to the front desk, and as she walked towards me, three boys up on the balcony of the second floor started cat-calling.
“Ohhh! She’s a thief! Got caught stealing, did you?” one of the boys yelled out.
“What did you take? I hope it was good!” another one chimed in.
It was there, for the first time in my librarian life, that I shushed someone. And I felt awfully good doing it.
“Be quiet!” I yelled up at them. “We do not need your input!” and gave them the scary eye for good measure, the thousand yard stare that would leave Napoleon shaking in his boots. Here was this lady, already nervous and hating the situation she was unwittingly put into, and these 10-year-old boys were feeding her nightmare that everyone in the library was mentally branding her as a thief. Yeah I was pissed off, can ya tell?
The boys stopped their cat-calling instantly, and stared at me, wide-eyed. I helped the lady and got her out the door (and no, she hadn’t stolen anything - it was, as usual, just me screwing up) and the kids followed shortly after. I gave them the stink eye the entire way out, and they started scuttling a little faster than normal by time they got to the door. I wanted dearly for the door to beep so I could lecture them further, but they were clean, and got out without a problem.
And I got to add an experience to my librarian life. I guess we’re equal.
Speaking of all this fun stuff, I’ve actually only caught one patron trying to steal something. In a year and a half of working, that’s not bad, right? Anyway, it was months ago. The guy was heading out the front door, and it beeped at him.
“Sir, come back!” I called out to him. He ignored me, and kept going. I ran to the front doors and called out for him again. Again, he kept going. I went through the lobby and to the outer doors, where I yelled out once again. It was busy, and I wasn’t sure if he had heard me before. I thought briefly about calling the police, but what if it was just an honest mistake by someone who didn’t realize what he was doing?
As I stood in the open doorway, debating my options, he abruptly turned around and came back to the library. He walked in and calmly pulled a CD out of his pocket and put it on the counter. Now I was the wide-eyed person. He had tried to steal from us, but had brought the item back and offered it up of his own volition. I didn’t know quite what to make of the guy. He had almost made it across the street before he turned around. Why did he even come back? And more to the point: Do we still call the police?
Turns out the answer is yes, and it also turns out that the guy has a long history of mental problems, and of petty theft. He had a restraining order put on him that he can’t come back into the library for a couple of weeks (yes, you read that right - weeks, not months or years) and that was that.
Well, except I also got a talking to not to run out the doors after a patron. I hadn’t technically even left the library (I stayed inside of the library at all times) but apparently you’re not even supposed to go into the lobby after someone. My boss told me that they might take the opportunity to attack me and kill me.
Oh, the fun things I deal with at the library…
Havs
Havs, congrats on the great grades! Good for you to standing up to those boys - it would have been really funny had the door beeped on their way out hehe
It always makes me nervous when I buy an electronic or makeup or anything else with a metal strip on it at the store because the clerks have forgotten to desensitize them and then the door goes off and I feel really embarrassed.
I bet with time you will make desenitising a habit - it’s hard to learn new habits, so don’t be *too* hard on yourself.
Sierra
http://anxiety.today.com
that’s a long time to go without having to shush anyone in a library!
pinkink >> Thanks for the congrats.
I’m only going to a community college, so it’s not as if I am working my way through Harvard or something, but I am learning a lot, nonetheless.
And about the desensitizing, I’ve unfortunately worked at the library for a year and a half, so if I haven’t learned it by now, I’m rather afraid there’s no hope for me.
I usually get tripped up by CD’s or DVD’s inside of books, and we also have problems with some items simply not desensitizing. And then sometimes the alarm goes off, and there literally is nothing that we can see that would cause it to do it! Very frustrating. I think our alarm system is possessed. Yay us! LOL!
Flit >> I try really hard not to get grumpy with noisy patrons. I know that it’s hard (especially for young kids) to be quiet for long periods of time. I usually try to talk to them and keep them interested so they don’t howl when I take too long to check out their books. I don’t mind that kind of noise, but these three boys were just being punks. I don’t put up with that well, obviously.
Havs