Tales From The Circ Side
They Call Me, The Reiterator.
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While most of the continental United States has been snuggled firmly in the bosom of the Polar Vortex, I spent more than a few moments trapped in the web of a creature who seems to manifest on a regular basis. Who is this creature that I speak of? Well, I am sure that any of you who have worked in customer service has come across this loathsome plague: The Reiterator.
The Reiterator's prime feature is that it has no capacity for comprehension. I am fairly sure that most Reiterator's can hear perfectly fine, rather they just chose to not comprehend anything that doesn't fit their current objective. You can answer a Reiterator's question and they will just keep on vomiting words in your direction if your response is not to their liking. Their schtick is almost a form of bullying, albeit a subtle bluster, for their objective is to always get you to do something this is just slightly outside of policy. When you flat out tell a Reiterator, "No, I cannot do that for you." and proceed with reasons A, B, C, and so on, they will just smile vacantly and start in again as soon as you deliver your organization's rules. Dealing with such a person is such a great time.
Perhaps a real life example is in order. A couple of days ago I was watching the circ desk when a middle-aged man and a young girl walked in. The man could have been featured on a poster about how there is life after meth. The girl, who I will guess was around 8-10, had all the authority of a child who is pandered to by adults who have made bad life decisions. Hmm...perhaps I was in a bit of a mood, but I was in the midst of the Well Pump Saga, so there was a bit of a reason for my ill-tempered internal tempest.
Anyway, I greeted the two as I greet every patron who walks through the door, with a smile and asked if they needed any help. The man responded with, "I want to get her a library card."
"Okay," I replied as I crouched down behind the counter to retrieve a youth library card application, "Do you have a card."
"Well, I do, but I moved." he said, "but I have all my paperwork."
When you get a library card, you just need to present some photo ID with a current street address on it. Your card is issued in your taxing district. If you are new to our taxing district, you can just show us your ID from another place along with some official documentation from some place like the DMV or a utility bill that has the name on your ID along with your new physical address. Not a big deal, but holy wow, do people seem to struggle with this policy. One man quite literally wrote his new address on the back of an envelope and gave it to me. Nope.
Anyway, twenty-two inquiries later, I had determined these facts:
The man was not the child's guardian. He was her mom's boyfriend. He didn't even live with them.
He had a card in the system with enough fines on it that he couldn't check anything out.
He had 20 DVD's checked out from another local library in our district when he had some bad times with his previous girlfriend and she took off with all his stuff, including the DVD's, and some "gal" in a neighboring library had taken them all off his account.
His license showed one town as his residence, his library card showed another address, and his DMV paperwork showed yet another.
Again, he was not the girl's guardian.
Now, here's the thing. I want to help people find what they need. That's why I am a librarian. The guy needed to do his unemployment, so I offered him a guest pass so he could access the computers. I offered one to the girl too, so she could play some games while he did his work. I told him that he only needed to pay part of his fines and he could use his card again. I told him that his home library was actually a town seven miles down the road, but once he got his card there he could use it in our library because they are all networked. I also gave him a fresh youth library card application and let him know that the girl's mother had to fill the application out and then the girl could get her library card.
Do you know what he did? He ignored me and kept filling out the youth application that he was working on.
"Sir, I cannot give her a library card, you are not her guardian."
"What, oh, I am just gonna fill this out. Are you sure you cannot give her one? I mean, I am her mom's boyfriend." he said.
At this point, instead of being frustrated, I was amused. I flicked my eyes up to the clock in the children's section of the 'brare and saw that ten minutes had elapsed. I let a sigh trickle out of my form as I knew that the Reiterator would continue. They always do.
He finally went off to do his unemployment, but I knew that he would be back. People who bully via repetition of non attainable goals don't simply slither away to ponder how they are going to steal time away from their next victim. They just can't let go of the fact that they didn't get what they wanted, no matter how unreasonable. In the next hour the guy tried to check out a Playstation game without paying his fines, get a new library card for himself even though our library wasn't his home library, and tried to make prints without paying for them. He was relentless in his attempts to usurp my mettle. It didn't happen.
Now, I have to admit, by the end of his mental lambasting, I was fatigued with the Reiterator's presence. There are a lot of people in our community whom I adore and am truly happy to see and help. I don't mind helping people with issues either, but sometimes I would prefer to help them from afar, like from Kandahar or something. After he left, I strolled to back office in search of a soothing, soul-rejuvenating cup of tea. As I walked back there I beheld our newest employee staring at me like I had an extra appendage.
"Kat! That was amazing! Your inflection didn't even change. Not even once!" she bubbled at me with what sounded almost like admiration.
"Well, I did grow up with a father who is the master of reiteration." I replied with a smile, "So, I am just well trained in that area."
You see, when you have to listen to your father annoy your mother with an original composition called "The Super Blow Pop Song" while on a two hour drive, you become conditioned. My Dad is the master of subtle reiteration manipulation. He used to drive my grandmother to hair pulling insanity, and he still drives my mother, a person who adores reason and order, to the edge of Cliff Rationale, so why on Earth would I have a problem with just a few minutes or an hour of wheedling for way getting? Nay, I took eighteen years of training in Reiteration, Advanced Reiteration, and Reiteration With Subtlety. Heck, I probably have a Master's in Reitrerator Identification and Handling.
And on that note, every time I have to deal with a member of the public who tries to wheedle their way around the rules for reasons only important to them, I just smile and inwardly utter, "Thanks Dad."
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Hello my dear friend how are you? How are you all at home? you always have a story that leaves me delighted while I'm reading, behind a counter either from a library or from anywhere interesting things always happen, and there are good or bad experiences that always leave us teachings
Ah dearest pal! I was wondering how you were doing! We are all well here in our frozen wasteland. Yesterday our wind chill was freezing! Like below 0 Celsius freezing. With blowing snow everywhere. We spent the day in the house drinking hot cocoa and lounging around the fire. Well, we had to go out in it and make sure the animals were fed, watered, and toasty warm too.:)
I'm so pleased that you enjoy my writings! I enjoy all your blog posts too, especially the recipes!
Yep I know the type well. Some folks just cant help but to try to weasel in...again and again if not successful at first. I am always amazed by these people. They must believe the rest of us are simply here just to cater to their needs!
I am appalled. The general public can be sooooo annoying! You have my sympathy for having to deal with this particular critter. Uffda.
Ha! Thank you so much for your sympathy.:) The public can be a bit trying some days, but we are pretty lucky to live in a community full of some cool peeps too, thank goodness!
Hope you are staying warm!
Hello @generikat, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!