Sometimes I forget that my work place can be like an episode from a trashy talk show. Wednesday, was no exception. Since I work at the circ desk I usually get to see all of the drama. Unlike the kids department, or the reference desk, the circ desk gets a lot of the weird action. It's mainly because we deal with people's accounts/problems and we're located in the front of the library.
The Jerry Springer-esque Tale
The only thing I personally witnessed about the debacle was two African American women yelling at each other. I recognized one of the women with very short hair, but I didn't recognize the other woman that was wearing a red shirt. Luckily, we often have a police officer on duty who is only yards away from the circ desk. Before anything could get too out of hand, the cop was making a beeline for the cat fight that was about to ensue. Immediately, the cop told the woman with the short hair (who had caused problems at work before) that she was banned from the library and that the other woman in the red shirt was banned too.
The lady with the short hair didn't put up much of a fight and muttered that she had to get her kids first before she left. The lady with the red shirt, however, threw a fit at the officer.
"Why can't I come back!?!? It's not my fault! She started everything!" She shrieked. I know the officer that was talking to both women and knew that he didn't put up with any b.s., so if this woman wanted to rumble-she was messing with the wrong cop.
"Ma'am, this is not Jerry Springer. We do not put up with this sort of crap here. I recognize you. We've had trouble with you before. I want to talk to you outside so you won't disrupt anymore of the patrons." The cop talked to the woman as if she was a frightened child. I knew he had handled instances like this often, so I wasn't surprised by his tone at all. Not to mention that this lady was starting to remind me of a side character from "Jersey Shore", combined with a dating contestant from "Flavor of Love".
I was wondering if this was going to be a smack down or a put down. Usually, I witness one of two things happening when a cop at work gets involved in a scuffle. Either
1) The person backs down and basically plays possum and lets the cop escort them out=Put down.
2) The person feels the need to defend their honor and starts to stupidly argue with the cop=Smack down
"She's the one who smacked my computer! She started it, I'm just the one who she decided to pick on. I'm innocent! It was her not me!" The woman in the red shirt professed, while crying and pleading to the officer.
Oh, no. I have a feeling this is going to be a smack down. I don't know what to do when this sort of thing happens. I automatically go into "watch this like a train wreck despite wanting to look away" zone. The cop, meanwhile, knows what to do. He escorts the woman out of the building, while she is practically kicking and screaming that none of this is her fault.
Later, a woman working the reference desk received a call from the lady in the red shirt. Apparently, she was not a happy camper, and took it out on an innocent bystander. I really don't get why people complain to the wrong person. Wouldn't you want to bitch out the person that kicked you out in the first place and not a random innocent?
On the same night I was just coming back from break when I heard that a fight had happened outside the library. At first, I thought for sure it was the two women, but I was wrong. Apparently, two guys (which I later found out were cousins) were beating the absolute crap out of each other. So much so, that there was a lot of blood and a street observer was the one to get the officer on duty at work. Later on, the officer had to clean the blood off his handcuffs because things got that serious.
Yep, just another day at the lame ol' library. Nothing crazy ever happens here. Nope.
Sincerely,
Your Non-Stereotypical Librarian
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