Professional and full-time staff are now scheduled on "front-door" duty as well as the Reference Desks so that we can catch people coming in and tell them to mask up if they aren't. We have free masks if they "forgot" theirs. We're also charged with regularly emptying the outside (through the wall) bookdrop onto a Quar Cart, and keeping track of the outdoor food pantry we installed while we were closed. I have a LOT less cataloging time these days...
11:00
- "I'm done"--off I go to clean his and other stations where people have left [I cleared all but one person when I showed up on-desk; people love me]
- The only person left keeps coughing and messing with his mask [shudder]
- New card, how to use computers
- [phone] "I have books to donate..." [Weds afternoon/evening only please]
- Two guest passes
- [phone] Curbside pickup [I transfer to the front desk to deal with him]
- Help with printing
- [phone from children's room] Curbside guy called back so now literally half the staff has talked to him--they are JUST NOW taking his stuff out [known idiot, so not surprising]
- Dude who appeared at the public computers keeps sighing heavily and muttering to himself, loudly ("oh my god" "I don't know" etc.)
- Next-door neighbor dude arrives and I rush to clean "his" computer--he opts to sit elsewhere because everything's damp
- Clean off printer station and two other computer areas while I'm up
- [miss at least two calls while I'm doing that]
- Coughing dude gets up and says, "Get to cleaning!" and I tell him I've done more cleaning here than in my house this year. While I'm up, I wiped down the print/fax/scan station
- Now that there are only two other people here, the muttering guy has stopped making so much noise for whatever reason
- Study rooms are closed, unusable. "Oh noooo!" I point out that wifi is available throughout the building but he's really thrown by the lack of study-room availability; he's off to find a suitable substitute [he's a regular, but obviously not since we re-opened]
- Next-Door Neighbor is chuckling at whatever he's doing online; the acoustics allow me to hear everything from 30 yards away
- [phone] How long are you open today? [till 5] Tomorrow? [No Sundays] How long can I use a public computer? [an hour, but we aren't really enforcing it so people stay...and stay....]
- So, today is basically Men's Day at the 'brary; another middle-aged guy wanders in, around....and back out, stopping for scenic asides (weird)
- [phone] How late are you open today? [still 5--3rd or 4th time I've been asked hours today so far]
- I thought we might get through a whole day without Cornie (not her name) but here she is, panting and sighing as always
- Study-room guy needs a pencil
- My other least-favorite female patron just arrived--hopefully she won't need the internet; right now she's messing around with the coupon box
- [phone] Hours, and did my books get checked in? [yep--she is a delightful Nigerian woman I've helped get a passport in the past]
LUNCHTIME at last!!
