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."

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