A patron just came up to me and asked very seriously, "Do you know anything about words?"
I just stared and waited.
She stared back.
I could only stammer out, "Words?..."
I do know about words. I know lots of words, too. And about a lot of them. Definitions, spellings, and hey, whatever I don't know, I can look up right here on my computer.
I didn't say any of that, but we're staring each other down high-noon-style, willing the other to stop acting crazy and know what they're talking about.
She said, "Yeah, on the computer? Words?"
And I said, "Oh, yeah, I know about Microsoft Word?" That sentence ended as a question, because it felt more polite somehow. "Is that what you're working with?"
"Yes."
We changed her page from portrait to landscape and then the world went back to normal.
*Just as a note, in case you think I'm a bad librarian for dumbly repeating back questions to patrons instead of asking them for more information: I only do that if I'm really caught off guard.
Most of the time I can jump right into a quest for more information. For instance, when a patron called on the phone today and said to me, "I'd like to know the protein difference between a McDonald's hamburger and one from Burger King" I smoothly jumped right into a serious consideration of this crazy question while bringing up Google and hoping like crazy that the internets would know. Without missing a beat I said, "Oh, you know I bet that would have to do with the size of the patty," thinking that I could look up the weight of the hamburger patties somehow.
I was only a little nonplussed when I realized it was my brother-in-law, Doug, messing with me. But I do have to say I was proud of the way I just glossed right over the crazy and jumped right into trying to figure it out.
Don't any of you get any ideas! I don't want to keep getting crazy prank-calls from family members. I can only handle so much crazy every day and there is plenty of it to go around already. I have to deal with really hard questions about words n' stuff.
5 comments:
"Inlaws", can't live with'em, can't live without'em. We all know that you're the best little librarian ever. LET'S HEAR IT FOR BREANNE! YAY BRE! RAH, RAH, RAH!
Aw, shucks
that was so funny. i think repeating the question is the best thing, buys you sometime to start thinking of possibilities! if it were me, though, i'd totally be like "yes, i know a lot of words. which one are you wondering about?" lol
Ha ha! So hilarious! I'm glad it turned out to be someone you know, or I'd be a little freaked at such a weird question. And I've had my share of weird questions when I worked at 2-1-1.
"I didn't say any of that, but we're staring each other down high-noon-style, willing the other to stop acting crazy and know what they're talking about." This was my favorite thing that I saw today. I hope you are doing well!
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