joys of librarianship

I just have to talk about my crappy day at work...as you may or may not know (if you ever go to a library), there's a lot of 'odd' people who hang out, especially as the cold weather comes on. Among our newest crop is a boy of about 13 or 14. Last week I think it was, he and his friends built a 'fort' out of all the chairs that were not occupied. Yesterday he was driving/riding on one of the wheeled chairs (belonging at the computer stations) whizzing up and down the aisles, and generally having his own little racetrack on the 2nd floor. So yesterday I managed to corner him on the bridge upstairs (by standing right in front of him so he was FORCED to stop) and told him to cease & desist. Today he was back at it again. So once again I cornered him and lectured him (along the lines of 'how old are you - old enough to know better etc etc') and then woke up one of his buddies. Shortly afterwards Jean, the lab assistant, kicked him & his sleeping buddies out.

So, a little while later, he and a friend are back again. I go over...you're not allowed back in here today. Eventually he leaves - for about 2 minutes - and he's back again, in his original spot and eating a cookie. I go over - do you think you're invisible or something??? (my voice is getting progressively louder as the day goes on). You have to leave. No food allowed, etc etc. He tries to make himself more comfortable and I say, if you don't want to leave alone, I can call somebody. No he'll go... gets to the elevator and whines 'why are you kicking me out'. BECAUSE YOU'RE PISSING ME OFF AND BREAKING ALL THE RULES!! Yes I did say this out loud. So then he called me a c---t and the doors closed. Off he goes again. For at least an hour and he's back in the building. I call over - just turn around and leave! I'm looking for somebody he says and I thought oh screw it I'm going home in 15 minutes. Let the evening shift deal with him.

So then, because I'm in a crappy mood, I take it out on a hapless mother & daughter. They come up to the desk looking for info on a couple of native bands. Mom's doing all the talking but teenage daughter is hissing "i didn't have socials today". I ask which one of them is doing the project. "She is" says Mom. I try to ask daughter questions, mom answers them all. I try again, mom is still doing all the talking. So then I say to Mom "what school does she go to" (thinking surely to God the daughter can answer for herself) but Mom tells me. so I mutter to the daughter ' just seeing if you could speak'. oh shit I can't believe I said that!! But neither one of them seemed to get it. And the daughter never spoke.

I was really happy when 5:30 came along.

Career change anyone??