When a man asks what my occupation is, I always hesitate. It's because I know that they will react one of two ways: The first reaction, which is not the most popular reaction, is their face scrunches up while they look rather disgusted, “Why do you work at a library?” they’ll say. Or when I tell them that the library I work at is fairly busy daily they say, “How could a library be busy?” I forget that some people don't take advantage of their public library on a daily basis. It makes me sad that they know how amazing libraries can be.
The second reaction, which is the one I most often receive, is the man raising both of his eyebrows and smiling while asking, “Oh so you’re a librarian?” I suppose it’s a natural association for most men. Most librarians are thought of as sexually repressed women who have grown tired of being proper and need to “let their hair down”. I know why men think this way; there are too many pornographic movies that show female librarians as hot, large breasted women. It’s very misleading. I find it funny that a library could be thought of as sexy, or a place that contains throngs of sexually repressed female librarians.
I have worked in the same county for almost six and a half years now, and from my personal experience I know that libraries can be one of the most disgusting and dustiest places possibly in the whole world. Libraries in general, are a germophobs nightmare. Imagine how many books have been sneezed on, coughed on, not to mention possibly peed or puked on. Believe it or not, I have had books/items like this come across the circulation desk too many times.
Think about how many men use the library for their “other needs”. I can’t tell you how many times I have caught a man getting his jollies at one of the library computers. There’s a couple of tell tale signs that there’s a man peeping at porn. 1) The computer screen is tilted at an angle towards him. 2) They keep looking around their surroundings before they glue their eyes back to their screen. 3) Also the most obvious sign, a man having his hand on or down the front of his pants.
I first started to work at the library when I was 16, I thought it would be a simple and peaceful job in which I would love and never want to leave. While I do love my job (for the most part), it has never been quiet or easy. I work at a rather atypical library, or at least it seems abnormal when I compare it to the quiet and calm atmosphere of any of the other libraries I have been to. When I say the library is atypical, I mean that a lot of freaky things happen here.
My First Patron Story: The Tale of Deodorant Boy
I was on the phone with a patron when I saw a guy blatantly lurking at me while he was leaning over the checkout counter. He looked around my age, but I could still tell that he was in high school and had no idea I was in my early twenties (A thing you should know about me is that I still get mistaken for a high schooler because I apparently have a baby face). I could not talk to him while I was on the phone so he began to become antsy and looked through the backpack he was carrying.
When he took a deodorant stick out of his bag I thought nothing of it. Then Deodorant Boy started to put the deodorant on, right in front of me. I’m not sure if I expressed my revulsion, but he winked at me before he parted the circ desk. Deodorant Boy left me completely confused, and him smelling piney fresh. It was one of those moments in my job that I cannot tell what I’m more disgusted by, the fact that he thought it was okay, or the fact that this isn't the weirdest occurrence I've seen at my job.
I have so many stories to tell everyone because I am a librarian. However the most honest story I have to tell, being a librarian isn’t sexy. Even though I own a pair of black framed glasses and put my hair up in a bun occasionally, I’m never going to strip tease to a “bow chicka wow wow” song on the circ desk.
Sincerely,Your Non-Stereotypical Librarian
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