Since this is my first post I can do anything! And for some people, that sounds like an easy task but no! When it comes down to it, anything is the most simple but hardest task to think of. So I'll talk about work. I work at a library as a page. A page shelves books. That's all I do. I do other things like clean up, pull books for holds or requests and the such. It doesn't sound like much and at my branch we do 3 hour shifts. The reason for 3 hours is because you are in constant movement. Your arms or your legs, walking back, walking to, move this here, there, everywhere, all the time. It does build up, and you do get tired, but you get tired from constant movement and boredom. Boredom. Boredom is a HUGE issue when you are a page or a volunteer at your local library. If you are creative enough, you can find tons of ways to keep yourself entertained while working. Here is a compiled list of tips:
- Listening to your MP3 player on the lowest volume (in case you have someone asking a question)
- People watching
- Challenging yourself by putting books away really fast
- Taking a small break and reading a book
- Glance through some magazines
- Working very, very slowly to pass time.
This whole list is from my own experiences.
This is unheard of, but there really ARE horror stories at the public library (that are not really suspense horror, but more like "oh my god, that happened?" kinda thing).
My first story: I just started working. A few weeks in, I pass along to the shelves with my car full of books and this man by the computer falls off! He was having a stroke. People were gasping in the background, and this very nice man calls the ambulance. I say he's very nice but he's also an idiot. When he called, I heard him say, "Yes, there's a man and he's having a heart attack! at (thisandthat library, state, etc) ... yes, yes, that's right. Oh, do you need to talk to him?" He hands the phone over to the man CLEARLY on the ground, suffering, and the man on the floor doesn't say anything. Immediately the guy on the phone retreats and was like "oh, nevermind, be here quick!" (The injured man turned out to be alright).
Second: I was shelving in the children's area when this man, who was supposed to be studying asks me "to be friends". He was a fobby asian man so I said "sure, why not". I didn't know it was going to be horrible. He found my FB so I accepted him, and then he got my number through my facebook but you know, nobody actually looks at that and uses it! Anyway, he did use it so he started txting me and he wasn't really that harmless at all except that he, for some reason, decides that mothering me was the way to reach my heart. So he would say things like "Don't forget to eat a good breakfast" or "have you finished work? sleep 8 hours a night" "don't forget to wear lots of layers when you go out" and stuff like that. I mean, really? He also bought me a birthday present. That sounds nice. I was really excited about that, until I opened it. It was a pink Cinderella pumpkin coach with wheels. The pumpkin was a snow globe with a picture frame in it, and it was a music box. I opened the box to find my picture, taken from my facebook, on one side, and on the other side was a picture of this guy. Of course I was freaked out. I said, "...how did you get the pictures in there?" and he said "Oh. That's a secret. But I'll tell you if you go to dinner with me." (Hell no I won't!) So I deleted his fb and his number and he kept calling and txting but eventually he stopped. He often visited me at work to ask me why I did that and I told him he was a creep.
Third: Some time had passed since that incident and so, as usual, I walk through the library shelving books. Now, my particular branch has wall to wall windows and two courtyards you can look at from the inside. Now, there was this young man, around 15 or so. He was on his laptop, and he looked like a studious student... but no!! When I walked by, lo and behold... he was masturbating. And I know this for certain because his hand was in his sweatpants, and his pants were going up, and down, up and down. So I was sure. The very sweet and patient head Librarian had to go outside and pretend she didn't know what was going on. But she also knew, and he was never caught, so he just left. BUT I never saw his face again.
So, libraries are fun!
