Ignorant rednecks or urban psychotics--I'm not sure which are worse. The scary city people were sometimes easier to spot, but I'm getting better at predicting which rednecks are teetering on the edge of crazy.
I just had a woman ask me where we keep the word processor--she wanted to type something up. I explained we don't have word processors in the traditional sense, but that she could use Microsoft Word on any of the available computers. I showed her how it worked and how to access it.
She said, "I don't want to use an Internet computer. I want to use the WORD PROCESSOR."
"I understand. We don't have computers for just typing, though--these computers have access to lots of different programs, so you can just select "Word" instead of the Internet."
"Look I said I DON'T WANT TO, okay?!?"
Okay. No skin off my back, lady.
I'm sure these fun encounters (and actually, they are pretty rare) are caused by people being intimidated by technology, and that comes out as hostility towards me. But there's no way to win these things--the more polite and professional I am, the more they think I'm acting snooty, or secretly laughing at them. (Okay, I was secretly laughing at the Horrible Tolkien Lady. I am not made of stone.)
I've realized over the past few days that I really need to figure out exactly how much shit I am willing to take, and then develop an exit strategy once that limit has been reached. It's easy to escape when people are yelling at you, but when they're just treating you like shit it's a little bit more complicated.
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Lately I've had a lot of people apologize to me when they bring back an overdue book. They'll go on and on about how they really were meaning to bring it back, but their kid hid it in his room, or they've been out of town, or they've had a terrible cold which prevented them from braving the elements to bring the book back to the library.
I always want to say something like, "Oh my god, it's you! You're the one who's been hogging the 17th novel in the Sue Grafton alphabet murder series! How could you do this to me--to all of us here at the library? God, all we do is sit around and talk about you--wondering what we could have done to make you bring the book back on time, and whether you've been avoiding us. Now, at last, you have returned the book, and I and all the staff can once more be at peace. Thank you! THANK YOU!!!"
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