Thursday, July 10, 2008

*sigh* No, I will NOT repeat that!

A nice quiet day at the library, for which I was very grateful. After having a fever the last couple days, (YARGH), it was nice to have a gentle day at the library. However, that doesn't' mean there wasn't at least one shining star to earn my ilk.

*Phone Rings*
"Hello, reference desk"
"Hello reference, I would like to know a summary of the movie XYZ"
"Do you know what year XYZ was from?"
"1966"
"Alright, let me look it up"
*I type it in and open a window for the IMDB result and a wikipedia one, of course, I survey the summary on the IMDB one first, but, with a single sentence it seemed skimpy. And I recognized the voice, one of -those- patrons (regular) that has to ask the required number of exactly 20 questions, as if calling reference was always a game with set rules, so I read the intro on the Wikipedia page aloud to the patron on the phone*
(Insert uniform movie synopsis here that states clearly it is a western and stars Bob the Habidasher)
"So.... it is ....about westerns?"
"Yes"
"And it stars Bob the Habidasher?"
"Uhm, yes"
"And it also ...."
"Yes"
"Alright, could you read it again?"

(Note: Ire-o-meter rising steadily)
So I read the intro again. Then, the patron wanted to know more.... *SIGH* So I said there was more and began to read the first paragraph of the plot summary. Rinse and repeat ire building conversation.

"Would you please read that again, slowly?"
(Note: Ire-o-meter bubbling over)
"Actually sir, I would be happy to print this out for you to read at your leisure, if you would like"
"Well, could you email it to me?"
.... I pause, wondering the logistics of it, but before I can reach a conclusion...
"Never mind, that wouldn't be very practical. I'll just call back later after I've gotten to a computer and checked my email."
(Note: Ire-o-meter bursting and switching rapidly to anger, frustration and oh my god, I don't want to inflict this on any other poor librarian....)
"So you do have access to a computer?"
"Yes" (AHHHHHH dammit, don't ask me to do something you could do!!!)
"Well, you could pull up this web page yourself. I just searched XYZ on Wikipedia"
"Wikipedia?"
"Yes."
"Alright, I'll try that, thank you."

Monday, July 7, 2008

A Brief Snark Break


Even I am totally disarmed by utterly cute and adorable things.

For Instance:

I accidentally stumbled across this anime, "Chi's Sweet Home" on crunchyroll while watching some episodes of Vampire Knight and Saiunkoku Monogatori. I dare you to watch it (episodes are about three minutes each), and tell me it's not adorable. In my view of the world, it just might be the most adorable anime ever. It ranks right up there with Yotsuba& (which, as far as I know, is only a manga as of yet). The only thing that pains me is the thought that if it ever gets licensed here in the US and they try to make an English dub, they would ruin it. But regardless. It is all my restraint not to fly to Japan and get the manga, even though I don't speak Japanese, just so I can thoroughly drown myself in it's cuteness.