9 - 12 noon

* [It's 9:15, and I just finished updating yesterday's entry. The circ person brought me the papers just now and that's my first contact with anyone today. Could be slow...?] [later: HAHAHA]
* [phone] Do we have a computer to use a CD-ROM with? [I think so, if he's going to try to read something off one...]
* Another patron waiting while I answer the phone question needs to print something off a CD-ROM of his own
* Librarian JK finds me to tell me that Librarian A is still sick, so it looks like I will be at Ref. pretty much all day today. Whee. Not. [so much for a quiet day]
* ILL question; ILL person isn't here today, so I can't really tell patron anything about her DVDs that she wants to renew. I promise that we'll call her when we hear from the owning library
* Reserves for two books on Medicaid that we don't own
* [I can't work this afternoon when I said I would--I have to pick someone up at school. And I can't find Library K; oops, she's in story hour]
* CD-ROM guy from the phone is here to look over his stuff. Computer explodes; I have to reboot, which takes more than 5 minutes...finally, he's able to start learning about his cell phone!
* First CD-ROM guy pays for his print job
* [I notice that we now have extra copies of tax forms for extending your time to file squirreled away behind the desk here. Every year...]
* CD-ROM guy can't figure out how to use the menu; he's not exactly tech-savvy...
* "How do you spell the last name ----?" ...sounds like "whirl" [I give him some possibilities and send him back to start trying them and any others he can think of]
* [Librarian M says she will cover a few of those problem hours this afternoon, at least long enough to allow me to do the school pickup]
* Do we have 2-year-old issues of USA Today newspaper. [nope]
* CD-ROM guy needs more help. Those mice, they are tricky... :-)
* Pay for print jobs
* Books on kleptomania? [no] "Well, then I'll write one." [well, then ok]
* Tax help is downstairs (he doesn't look old enough for AARP!)
* Word proc
* Word proc (Virus Woman) and what happened with Lamb?
* Klept. guy is back, to use the 'net to find an author for his book. I suggest Writers Market/LMP [10 minutes--no dice: MUST--USE--INTERNET!] I register him [10 minutes], I help him log on [5 minutes]. [I think his IQ is about 90...confirmed later by other staff who actually have now rescued me twice from him in the ensuing half hour]
* First word proc. user wants to know if he can scan something in; he lost the disk it was on [no]. He is annoyed, but not at me. I don't think
* Internet registration/lost wallet (turns out he lives in an area where there is no library service, but he doesn't tell me that). I send him up front to get a new library card; he yells at them because they want to send him back here to get a Temp User number for the 'net. He leaves. Thank God for small favors.
* Tax help is downstairs (she's definitely old enough for AARP!)
* Changed card number, needs to be changed on SAM/Internet -- he has an adorable little boy with him who's actually pretty well-behaved
* [OMIGOD--No Social Skills is helping Klepto-Man! Better him than me]
* [Can't it please be lunchtime, or time to go home, now?]
* Anything in the library on saving farmland? Not the internet; he needs books! Imagine that
* Word proc
* Floppy disk purchase
* Patron needs state Circuit Breaker (tax) form, possibly the easiest form in the world. Doesn't know how to do it. Coughs on me profusely. Breathes on me profusely, and stands way -- too -- close. Doesn't understand why one copy of the form is back/front and one copy is 2 pages, front only. I send him down to the AARP people downstairs. And then go wash my hands, and arms, in hot water. Would like to wash clothes, face, hair and vomit too.
* Word proc, with password
* Librarian JK tells me that other staff members don't know about one of the middle school's big year-long project that each student has to do in 8th grade, which they've been doing for about 10 years now. Oh well.
* Pay for print jobs (Virus Woman). She complains about her messed up, unformatted months ago, disk. Again. I try to explain. Again. No luck
* Word proc
* Books on lauds and vespers and other orders of services [I order one for him]
* Pay for print job
* Word proc
* [I hear the unmistakable sounds of Librarian J approaching...]

I couldn't keep up; I know I missed people especially towards the end when I was helping 2 people at once most of the time.
Meanwhile...I got nothing else done. I missed the news report that all wackos should be at the library this morning, or else.