Just realized that I'm more used to men behaving strangely in the library than women.

Today there was a woman a few tables away who was either practicing speeches for a play (I'm hoping) or she was really, really, really angry at the 27 small pieces of paper she had arranged on the table in front of her. Lots of hissing, stabbing of fingers, furious scribbling, the occasional angry tearing to shreds.

And, yes, it was 27 pieces. I counted while I tidied the shelves behind her. Four rows of seven, minus one.

P.S.

In another one of those, "Come here! Look at this thing on my on my screen!!!" moments, I watched two videos of a hamster running on a wheel until it spun out of control when it stopped running.

Ah, the glories of YouTube.

Then again, I have no idea why I stuck around to watch the second video...

Saints and sinners

Had to help a customer find a book about saints today. She had a particular one in mind, so when she couldn't find *that* book, she came for help.

After looking up titles, I had a couple of call numbers to try, and we went 'shopping' in the stacks. I didn't realize that she wanted *that* book, without having told me she had one in mind. So, we went back to the computer until I identified *that* book (because she couldn't remember the exact title, the author, or much else about it...just that it was about saints). Call number in hand, we went back into the stacks.

The book wasn't there, of course. Instead of a lovely serious book about the saints and their holy works, we found five back issues of Esquire magazine, each with our property stamps, each with a more sexually implicit cover. My little old lady was quite aghast!

I took the magazines over to the circulation desk to tell them my funny findings...and there, on top of the pile of freshly returned books, was *that* book about the saints she'd been looking for. Aghastness was forgotten.

The thing I don't understand is that the magazines were all from before 2003, and we only keep the previous 5 years for periodicals. Which means the saints have been living with the bikini-clad Esquire models amongst them for at least three years now...

It's a book, not a cat.

Just watched a little girl drop several books into the book drop, one at a time. This would not be an unusual sight worthy of comment if she hadn't also been saying, "MEOW!" with each book. Each. And. Every. Book.

All kinds of help available

Stepped away from the Ref Desk for 2, maybe 3 minutes to help someone with one of the public internet computers. When I came back, someone had helped themselves to the Ref Desk computer, and had searched Amazon with the phrase "When you can't control your bladder."

Suddenly, I no longer wanted to be sitting in that chair.

Yep, I'm pretty sure...

...that there's a woman doing tai chi in the videotape aisle.

Strangest thing I've seen today?

A man with a heating pat tucked into the back of his pants, sticking outside of his shirt above his belt.

As he walked around the library, the cord dragged around behind him.