Great Moments in Irony, Part 7,238

Today, the woman who reaked of cigarette smoke who did not want to walk all the way over to look at the exercize videos.

Today, the dad who shouted at his toddler to stop making noise.

The irony meter is getting a workout here at Deskslave Central.

Not "Where is the large print?"

Not, "Do you have any large print." Rather it was. "Why don't you have any large print?" Which we do. Big sign. Prominent location for the collection. Lots of stuff.

Not, "Thanks...I guess I overlooked it. My eyesight isn't what it used to be. Rather it was, "Oh."

Welcome to the Jungle...I Mean Interwebs

A patron asked for the Better Business Bureau for the Internet. He had come across a web site that offended him and he wanted to report it. I wanted to tell him to look it up in the Internet Yellow Pages. But, being a good deskslave, I did not.

Well that was unpleasant

We were more or less ready to open on time. Five minutes before we needed to unlock, a coworker went out to gather items from the bookdrop. He left the door open and an alert patron zoomed in and planted himself at a catalog computer. I felt like a jerk, but I asked him to go back out to the lobby. He was offended. He referred to his watch, noting in an irritated fashion that we were going to open in five minutes. I countered, in a reasonable tone I hope, that if I let him in early, I'd have to let everyone in early. I was sure, I told him, that he understood. He didn't, but he got up and walked toward the door.
"OK," he intoned tartly, "I'll wait out here for THREE MINUTES."
Me, big smile like I was happy we were on the same page, "Great! Thanks!"

I resist you, little cat

So far, I have avoided reading this one. Just because it's in a library doesn't mean I want anything to do with it. I also hate the subtitle. "The small-town library cat who touched the world." It seems like they are claiming too much, like all those books about one thing that is responsible for the modern world, like Mark Kurlansky's book about the humble cod, or Simon Winchester's The Map that Changed the World, or John Griffiths' Tea: The Drink That Changed the World, or any number of books that attempt to shove minor players on to center stage. My part of the world has yet to be touched by Dewey, and now that the book is dropping off the bestseller lists, I doubt that will change.

No notary. No lawyer. No embalmer either.

But we got a librarian! I just had to break the bad news. No notary. Oh, the outrage! Oh, the dudgeon!

So, all three of my readers, do you think public libraries should have notaries?