"Up"rorious Time @ the Library

Apparently, someone put a hex on the library last week as our department was also hit with bodily fluids.

Lenny is a frequent visitor. Don't quite know what his diagnosis is, but Lenny has some issues but always keeps to himself & other than some muttering & self mutilation, is not a problem. Even when he approached the desk last week, he was quiet with his request for something he could use to wipe off his shirt.

Jack is a new employee but quick on the uptake & saw that the substance on Lenny's shirt was in fact vomit. And since he hadn't come out of the restroom, it was a sure thing that wherever the sickness overtook Lenny, it was in a very public place. Yep, all over the table where he was sitting. And the chair. And a bit on the floor. And the book he had been reading.

Fortunately for us, the janitor was not only on duty but also able to be found & he had the herculean task of cleaning up the mess, not us. And fortunately for me, I was at lunch when all this took place & "only" had to come up with a way to get Lenny back to his place across town (men of the cloth are good to come to the rescue).

Tonight is full moon; I dread what could happen next.

Harry Potty Party

Fortunately, I was not working on the day of the Harry Potter-palooza for young readers but the following is a true account of what transpired.

The staff person in charge of the event--a three hour drop in, do your craft, get your food, & leave affair--was called into the children's area right as she was preparing to open the activity room doors to the HP fans. There in front of the desk was human excrement--and apparently not the kind that could be associated with overflowing diapers. Not only that, but it had been stepped in & tracked throughout the area. Naturally, no one fessed up to it & the one family in the general vicinity of "it" had a (possible, very handy) language barrier. So she donned gloves, antiseptic cleaner, & went to work cleaning.

And to add insult to injury, she went in to start the first reading of "HP & the Deathly Hallows" to find that the food that was to last for three hours had already disappeared and those in attendance were not inclined to leave after taking part in the craft-making. They stayed & stayed--and those kids were no doubt on a sugar high after ingesting all the treats.

Icing on the cake? Discovering the mother who, despite instructions to the contrary about one chance per child for the book drawing, had entered each of her children (half of who aren't even reading yet) twenty-five times.

The staff person person deserves combat pay, compensatory leave, and a dinner paid for by the library (but won't get it). Although on Saturday I suspect she would have settled for an invisibility cloak.

These Shoes Were Made for Reading

The young woman rushed up to the desk, asking frantically, "Do you have the Birkenstock books?"

Thinking perhaps someone has put out a series along the lines of Noel Streatfeild but geared more towards comfort-loving Gen X-ers, I turned towards the computer to see what I could come up with as I said to her, "umm, I've not heard of that series."

"You know, that Christian writer. She has that mystery series. Birkenstock. Or something like that."

The light bulb went off in my head. "Do you mean Terri Blackstock?"

"Yes, that's her!"

I took her over to the mystery section, showed her what we had in, and she went off happy as a lark, books in tow (if, in fact, a lark could tow books).

That ranks right up there with the request for "those romance books written by that Harley Quinn guy".