What is your name and address?
Shark looks at the librarian, blankly. And so do I. The librarian stares at the computer screen in front of her where she's had this information stored for eight years.
What is your name and address?
Whoa. I don't like this. This is way off script. Is that librarian on drugs, or what? Why does she need a name and address? Shark's borrowing a book. I know it's Philip Pullman but steady on.
What is your name and address?
My God! The woman's still asking! Staring her in the face and blinking didn't work! What does she want here? Is she coming round to visit us?
What is your name and address? Do you know your address?
Now STOP THERE. I don't want my children to expect that for every ordinary public service encounter they must first prove their identity to anyone who asks. Time to wade in.
Is this necessary? We don't normally have our personal details checked to borrow a book.
It is the system. (Smiles sweetly.) We have to ask every two years.
I'm sure we've not been asked this before. Why do you need it now?
It is the system. We have to check every two years.
WELL PLEASE DON'T GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER.
Why do you need to ask every two years?
We're trained to ask every two years.
Why?
It is the system. We have to check every two years. Would you like a comment form?
Grit goes to a place where she screams and kicks and hammers her fists on the desk and grabs the pathetic minded arseface who instituted this system and turned a normal thinking librarian into an automaton because it seemed like such a fantastic public service idea to wipe any sense from our brains and routinely call us to account for who we are, where we live, what is our business and intent and when questioned on this even avoid the courtesy of a straight answer. And I take that tosser and smack their faces on the desk until the plastic veneer screams in mercy.
Then I feel much better and say No thank you. I have a blog.
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8 comments:
she's a lying cow. (sorry, but I'm tired, have a headache, the nearly 2yr old has only just stopped waking up and the husband went out without doing the washing up when he PROMICED and I've done it every night for AGES)
What they're ACTUALLY trained to say is - we have your address as..... is that still correct?
facist bitch.
(again, I can only apologies for my horrendous language but your librarian is bearing the brunt of my rightous indignation)
And here I was worried you might be getting soft on us. Good to know you still have the fight in ya.
Seriously, are they asking this of young people who are alone? So kids are in there blathering thier home addresses to anyone and everyone? Health & Safety issue me thinks.
I've had the "can we check your address is correct" conversation, but not phrased in the way you got it. And I would be very displeased if someone tried that on my children. Not that they'd get very far with Small.
I think mamacrow has the correct phraseology. The address is supposed to be checked at regular intervals but not in that way and surely not directly to a child - and more especially while her mother is in attendance. The mind boggles at the crass stupidity of the woman! She's so lucky that Shark didn't treat her to the new expanded vocabulary as detailed in the earlier post lol!
hmmm. yeah, i dont like it either. i know we're SUPPOSED to instill our children with a healthy respect for authority, but i cant help thinking about the cops who turn up with the sniffer dogs in france, search the primary school kids for drugs to teach them fear.
And what about random men asking a little girl for her address? Don't like it at all....its sad- it shouldnt even be an issue, a librarian needing an address, but there you have it, the world...
I'm still fuming over this. (i'm a librarian can you tell?!)
my mantra is 'it must have been the saturday girl. it must have been the saturday girl. it must have been the saturday girl.'
have hugs, dear mamacrow! we still love the library. i could not home educate without it. the library is a calm place of ideas and refreshment for my brain and most of the librarians we talk with are 110% wonderful. they know us and support us and we home educate better because of their help.
for some reason, all of my conflicts are only ever with the desk staff at the main library in town.
i think it goes back to the very early days when I turned up with three babies and an attitude; baby storytime was on the 1st floor and i had no easy way of getting to it, and no library staff would help. word probably got round about the bloodymotherwithtriplets. x
good point brad, and one which dig has suggested i go back and make on their comment form.
yup jax, you can bet that the moment shark was asked that question front up she couldn't remember her address and stood looking helpless and confused. and another advert for HE goes out. (and i resent feeling that pressure but these are hard times!)
you are right sharon! where is a little blunt discourse when needed?!
i agree screamish, and it's not a world i want us to say nothing can be done about, so you can bet it prompted a big debate on the way home about what we do regarding personal data and personal safety!
I'm GLAD you have lots of good librarians too. Like many small groups with a dodgy reputation (students, bikers, nhs workers), we're actually chock full of hardy working awesome people, just that the crappy ones shout loudest :(
I couldn't do without our library. Funilly enough they all know us by first name and can look up any of tickets without having to ask our surname and address and have taken to putting books by that they know one or other of us will like! Then coming and finding us when we're in next and brandishing said book proudly like a cat with a half dead mouse.
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