Library Commentary

I work at the library and it can be a funny place. Granted, I only work there three afternoons a week but it seems to be just enough.

The library can be a haven for many people, especially now when it is so incredibly hot and humid that your makeup can melt off, or your hair can get frizzy in seconds. However, just because it is HOT does not preclude one from washing oneself and wearing deodorant!

Yesterday, there was a patron so smelly that he could be detected at least half a room away. When me and my trusty book cart entered the elevator his scent lay heavy in the small box of elevatorness. (I tried to hold my breath for at least one floor.) When I emerged, with a grimace I might add, I could only hope that the next person using it would not think it was me that had left a trail behind!

I had two rather strange things occur to me recently. Strange enough that one of my fellow workers said I should have purchased a lottery ticket.

Let me explain. Because we handle so many items, at times things can get misplaced. We excel at finding them and putting them in right order. In this case I was searching in the adult section for an "I Love Lucy" DVD that was on hold. With no success, I then proceeded to search for a different DVD in the children's section. While in the children's section I found myself at the heels of a patron. I apologized to her for seemingly stalking her. She said it was no problem and, as we were in the DVD section, she pointed to a DVD on the shelf and said, "Shouldn't this be in the adult section?"  You guessed it, IT WAS THE DVD THAT I HAD BEEN SEARCHING FOR in the adult section. Now! I ask you what are the odds of that happening! Out of all of the thousands of items in the library and BAM! there it was. Needless to say, I thanked her PROFUSELY!

Yesterday, this: One of the clerks (I'm a lowly page, clerks outrank me) asked me if I could go outside and upright a sign that had fallen over. I was happy to do so. As I began to go outside I saw, through the glass doors, that a gentleman was walking up to the library...when he reached the point where the sign was laying, without any hesitation, he bent over, uprighted the sign, looked it over, and continued inside. Again, what are the odds that, at this moment all things would align themselves perfectly together, so that this would occur? (A rhetorical question.) I waited until he was inside, where it was cool (of course), and thanked him for doing this. He blinked at me and said, "You're welcome."

Darn! I should have bought a lottery ticket...must be the heat!