Gobsmacked
It was a zoo at Winton Branch today—the kind of day I dreaded before, and the whole reason I avoided taking a clerk’s position in the first place.
I was always afraid of bursting into flame or something from the chaotic nature of days such as today, when, managing three or four completely unrelated things at once, the next thing to happen would, more appropriately have been prefaced with a Monty Pythonesque, “And now for something completely different…”
And I quite enjoyed the day.
Still, I was stopped completely dead in my tracks by one encounter with a patron.
Apparently, there’s a new film out or coming along based on a work or works by W. Somerset Maugham. The third of several patrons asking for The Painted Veil and/or The Razor’s Edge, (Goggling around, I see it’s the former.) brought me to a screeching halt.
As I was adding her to the rapidly growing hold queue for the books, she asked, “You haven’t heard about the film?”
“No, I’m not much of a movie hound,” I replied. “I don’t own a television either.” These revelations usually shock patrons into silence so I can return to more pressing matters.
Instead, this patron replied, “You really are pure, aren’t you.”
Which left me gobsmacked.
Having played this game before, I’m prepared for those who make it through the shockwave associated with encountering an adult American male without a remote control.
Usually it’s assumed I’m either a neo-Luddite or a cheapskate (in fact, I’m both) and for whichever one I’m accused, I cop to being the other.
Occasionally, for variation, I’ll take the artistic high road and claim something like, “Well, there hasn’t been a decent film made since the fall of the studio system” or something like that.
Pure? I’ve never before been accused of it.
Had I been able to get my mouth to stop opening and shutting again, I might actually have said that.
Days like today underscore the differences between Winton and Sully branches. Today, I had several patrons who charged-out over 30 items. Thursday at Sully branch, I think I may have charged-out a dozen books and another dozen movies in the entire four-hour shift. Today, we filled three book carts of returns for our shelves and five tote boxes returns for other branches. Thursday I took it about a half-dozen returns for Sully and another half-dozen for other libraries.
This alone was enough for me turn down the offer of a 20-hour per week position at Sully that opened earlier in the week. I would go nuts from boredom.
