What it takes to be a librarian

Sometimes, I think it takes a certain skill to be a successful librarian.  Today, that skill is "Knowing When to Give Nice Answer VS. Honest Answer, AKA 'What You REALLY Want to Say'."

Case in point:  We have a patron who frequently uses our internet computers.  I've never been approached by this patron for anything other than the Same. Exact. Conversation.

'Uh, yeah, I was just using that computer (points vaguely towards entire room full of computers) and it was really slow.  Why are all of you computers so slow?"

Good librarian answer:  "Well, they get a lot of use."
Bad librarian answer: "We slow them down on purpose to annoy library users."

"Yeah, but it's really annoying."

Good librarian:  "I'm sorry to hear that you're having troubles."
Bad librarian:  "You complained about this last month, and I did nothing about it then, too."

"I mean, I could barely do what I needed to do, they were that slow."

Good librarian:  "I'm sorry to hear that you're having troubles."
Bad librarian is, at this point, screaming at ME inside my head:  JUST TELL THE GUY THAT THE COMPUTERS ARE SLOW BECAUSE THEY ARE FREE FOR HIM AND EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE WORLD TO USE, BUT IF HE'D LIKE TO UNDERWRITE AN UPGRADE, HE COULD SEND A CHECK.

Some day, I will, in fact slip.

Pro tip for free:

If you are a hard of hearing patron who calls for help using your e-reader and our ebooks, please DO ME THE COURTESY OF TURNING DOWN YOUR TELEVISION.