Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions: praying that it stays very quiet and no one asks anything complicated tonight: we're short (again) and my eyes are having a very bad time with focusing on things like spine labels and computer screens. Otherwise, switching over to the Updated Subject List since I'm all caught up with Death Dates; well, with checking them in the catalog.

6:00

• Fermentation (for a college lab report) [why she is not at a college library I don't know]
• I make an announcement about a car in the lot that was apparently parked by a drunken asshat...er, a very nice older gentleman [once we know it's his car, I just tell him he's gotta not park on the sidewalk in the future, please]
• Our paranoid letter-writer has been here, literally, all day doing something online [she called last night to make sure it was ok if she used the computer all day to type her genealogy into some governmental site--whatever that means] 
• And our Weds night group home folks arrive: Wild Wild West (as in books on), Halloween, fire engines, Zoom! [I have to ILL the last one]
• It's hotter than heck--on goes the fan that is always here now
• Oooh, Ms. Paranoia is gone! yay
• Soundtrack from "Ice Castles" (hello, my early teenage years!!!) [another ILL to do]
• How many magazines can be checked out at once? [no limit]

7:00

• Librarian KT is walking around like the ground is made of eggshells [sciatica flare up]; she can't walk, I can't see, together we make one semi-functional librarian
• "How do I log out of Yahoo mail now?"[I show him] then welding books, then National Geographics
• Call about Free: Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff request [audible download only; no book, no CD--but now I know that she watches Bill Maher, as do I]
• Eraser ... oh, and pen?
• Tech calls to let me know that Ms. Paranoia has left the director another note. Sealed inside an envelope so we will have to wait till tomorrow to find out what's buzzing around her brain today...sigh
• "I got a call that the things I requested are here" [thump on the desk goes her giant bag purse--I explain that they are up front, after I ascertain that these "things" are books/DVDs/etc. not something extremely weird we might actually have here at Reference; she looks moderately put out and not sure she should trust me]
• Different tech comes past on an errand and asks if we can tell from a cancelled hold where something came from [I check my record of cancellations...apparently not, which is weird]
• Go on my mid-shift wander to make sure no one is naked or dead anywhere in the building, and pick up 3 more reserves from circ, all for DVDs

8:00

• People using study room sign out
• "Where are the restrooms?" [point and explain]
• An hour till closing announcement
• "Can I use a study room?" [sure, why not?]
• Refill all the paper in printers/copiers/etc.
• It's dead in here, just a matter of the computers shutting down and herding the stragglers to the door...
• Dude in the study room is NOT leaving....grrr...ah now he is
  DONE

__________
We are finally getting shook of Librarian J a.k.a. Crazy Cat Lady. This is her last week of work. So of course she took today off. Weird that she hasn't had to call in sick once she she scheduled the rest of her time off so carefully. Anyway, that's why I'm going to be on the desk more often for the foreseeable future, especially on Weds. nights when she normally held things down here. So it's a trade-off, but overall, no one's exactly sad to see her leave.

Friday

What I'm doing between questions: checking the Death Dates lists--from August and September this year!--against our catalog.

1:00

• Blowers are off today so it's deathly quiet out here today; every keystroke can be heard
• "Does the printer print in color?" from someone with blue lipstick and a lip-ring [yes, if you tell it to, and she's quite nice]
• I am old: what's this thing with baseball caps that look like they just landed on guys' heads, rather than guys wearing them? It looks ridiculous (also, wearing Miami Dolphins colors--teal and tangerine--is an interesting tribute to people in Florida dealing with Hurricane Matthew)
• Boss stops by; we may not get the blower fixed till Monday. Yay--I work Sunday. It's like breathing tropical air in here already
• Guest pass, but suggest he get a library card
• Help making a photocopy
• [Operatic Farter is leaving, fartless today]
• Four leftover ILLs completed. Seriously, why weren't they done by the person who started them??
• Black Hole Blues [put on hold for him]
• "Did that last guy have an accent?" as he returns his Ethernet cable...[no...? I don't think so? and here's your card back]
• How to pay to print
• [finally starting the Death Dates list...]

2:00

• dead for 20 minutes
• [phone] Librarian K asking for the first two Hobbit movies [on his way back from his honeymoon--needs something to do tonight with the kids; I pull them and leave them in his inbox]
• More paper in printer--woman just printed about 50 pages
• Help with printing, and then with printing blown-up print job on copier
• Boss walks through--maybe we'll have blowers before we close
• Guest pass for internet
• Staff member's family is visiting, adorable little redheaded granddaughter included
• Blower tries to start several times...nope
• And...yes, it's on!! Sounds a bit off, but blowing air!
• Latest guest pass person asks for a wipe--the keyboard is greasy [ew]; we have Clorox wipes and she takes one\
• ...and help her print
• Killing Kennedy [on the shelf--I grin maniacally as she tells me how GOOOOOOD this series is!! Finding the book for her "made [her] day." OK, so not my thing, but it's always fun to have seriously happy patrons]
• Help with faxing [dude is 5 years younger than me and looks like he's about to keel over]

Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions: mostly just chatting to people and keeping this up to date. It was a little busy!

3:00

• It's busy today--kids are out for conferences and the homeless are appearing...or something. Anyway, a LOT of faces, several of them new. And the usual people as well. Including:

The Operatic Farter: long, loud, musical, and occasionally stinky

The FOL Guy: super-nice, was in the paper last month for getting arrested for disturbing the peace & vandalism

Pirates of the Caribbean: NEW! tall skinny and hairy proto-hipsters x 3. Possibly meth-heads. Homeless?

Ponytail Gamer: used to be an aide with the SPED kids, now spends hours every day here playing a really weird game online.

• Return of Big City Paper That Gets Stolen if we leave it out
• Study room sign-in
• More time for a guest user whose time just blew up [I give her a new day-pass and extend her time immediately]
• Longish chat with FOL Guy
• How to print from a laptop
• Hello to/from family that usually comes in half an hour prior to closing
• Proto-Hipsters decide to leave, so they turn their iTunes to max volume for the walk to the front of the building [and I "no no no" them, and then realize the "Pirates.." moniker is for the shitastic eyeline one of them is sporting; the loud one says, "Sorry, I didn't realize..." dumbass]
• Commercial motor vehicle operator instruction series which is not anywhere in this state. After some back-and-forth, she decides one disc is fine to examine to see if she wants to buy the set for $600 on Amazon [and then I hear some random story about a doll? or something she bought from American Dollar Store that actually came from Amazon...blah blah blah]
  
• Sign in for study room
• Discover that there are old reserves sitting here--finish those up, including an ILL for Like Finding My Twin [I might snag this when the patron's done for a quick perusal]
• Laptop printing person successfully prints off a zillion pages [ I 💚 PrinterOn]

4:00

• ILL tech needs a port, so I volunteer the one I'm just finishing up with and log out
• The population is currently half what it was an hour ago....I'm that scary?
• Help with Excel test...do I get the grade too?
• Study room sign-out
• Librarian C needs a port ... and then 2-year-old patron and mom need to meet our puzzle horse
• ...and a lengthy gossip section ensues because Librarians M and KT appear with questions for us
• KT wants the teen series called "Prey" separated from the adult series called "Prey" in the catalog (duh, yes, I should know better)
• Help with Excel [I know NOTHING about charts and tables!] and she sort of thinks she's got it figured out anyway
• Guest pass and help with printing
• ....and DONE!!