Sorry I haven't written in awhile. I could say it was because of the holidays, but honestly my life has been a little crazy lately. Is it just me or do people always try to ruin the holidays for everyone?
In the previous entry, I mentioned how the library can sometimes have a "bar like" atmosphere. The library seems to be more like a bar to me everyday. I'm not just saying that because the patrons seem to think the library hosts its own 2 p.m. happy hour either. The library is a shoe in for all of those lonely people in the world. People like Stan (see the Attack of the Stans entry). However, not all of our patrons are agoraphobic like Stan. Is it bad that I wish they were sometimes?
I admit that the library is somewhat stereotypical when it comes to patrons. We have our morning patrons, and we have our evening patrons. I wish I could say that the bizarre scenarios with patrons happen in the morning, or that I work in the mornings, but it's simply not true. I work the night shifts and weekends. In other words, I'm working prime Jerry Springer like hours. I never thought that weird or illegal things really happened before 8 p.m. but apparently I've been in the burbs for way too long.
The Christmas Eve Craziness Tale
I went into work the other day with a cold. I was already in a haze of cold and sinus pills when I practically crashed into our usual nighttime police officer accosting a man/woman (couldn't tell with all of the baggy clothing and a skull cap) resisting arrest. I see this sometimes, but not often enough that it becomes a daily thing. It was a he-she. I couldn't really tell if it was a man or a woman because of the scull cap. Usually the screeching would have tipped me off that it might be a woman, but you never know because of where I work.
Our cop Wilson, who's a particularly BAMF cop, was taking (what I later found out was a woman) to jail. I don't know if you ever look at prison/jail sites to see who is/has been in jail. But it has become somewhat necessary at my branch. So, I wasn't too surprised when the woman was carted off, but it was a weird start to a relatively early night.
There's a man who comes into the library. We're not entirely sure, but we think he's schizophrenic. Even the "Nice but Somewhat Stuck Up" branch had its fair share for the mentally unwell. This guy always comes in wearing a black trench coat, and a "death stare" for me and my co-workers. I've kicked him out before because I didn't know of his possible problem, and he was disturbing the patrons with his rather loud rambling. Later on that night, I received an appearance from Trench Coat, the death stare to me soon followed.
Within a half an hour an ambulance was called because Trench Coat guy wouldn't wake up, but was breathing. When he came to, he gave Wilson (The cop) a bizarre name that was nowhere near legitimate. He was kicked out for many reasons, but mainly because we don't allow people to sleep at our library. An hour later Trench Coat came waltzing back in, death stare and all. I was told that he was asked to leave for good, so he was kicked out and returned not once, not twice, but three times before Wilson gave him a stern talking to... with some yelling.
Trench Coat still rambles on in most days, but a few days ago one of his eyes was swollen shut. It looked like this ^.
Not to mention he tried to play "chicken" with my fellow employees (I don't know a better way to describe this other then saying he would come to the desk, then back off, then we'd back off and he would approach the desk). Being mentally unwell is nothing to get annoyed about, but this guy was in the wrong place and we aren't the right ones to handle it.
I guess the holidays can bring the worst and best out of people. Here's to hoping the next Christmas will be much better and drama free. Happy belated holidays!
Sincerely,
Your Non-Stereotypical Librarian
