Really? That's What You Are Opening With?

When you work with the public you get a lot of comments, as you can imagine.  Not all of them are nice.  I've been cursed out.  I thought a woman was going to deck me once she was so worked up when I told her she owed $1.  Yeah, $1.

My point is that you never know what is going to happen during a transaction.  You might ask someone how they are doing, and they will literally tell you exactly how well they are not doing. I'll never forget the time I had a woman start crying and telling me she had just had to put her dog to sleep.

You get the idea.  The response you get can be kind of a crapshoot.

Normally when a patron approaches the desk I like to start with, "Hello.  Can I help you?"  or something to that effect.  Nice, friendly, and you should get  a somewhat predictable answer:

1) Hello.  I need to _______.  (renew my book, pick up a hold, request a movie, etc.)

2) *pissed and angry*  I've got a problem with my account.

3) I forgot my card and need to use the internet.

That narrows it down, quite a bit, but everyone generally falls into one of those categories.  You can generally tell the ticked off patrons long before they tell you they are mad at you/the library/the world.

So, when I greeted a patron this afternoon, I was not expecting to get in reply, "Oh, so you do have arms."

Seriously?  Where the hell did that come from?

Me: Hello!  Can I help you?
Patron: Oh, so you do have arms.

What do you say to that?

-- Yup.  Thanks for noticing!
--I was born with them.
--So do you.  What is your point?
--What planet are you from?
--What are you smoking?
--You should probably not be driving right now, sir.

I chose to ignore the comment, check the patron out, and get him out of the building as fast as humanly possible...you know, using my two arms.

So bizarre.  You can't make this stuff up, I swear.

Thrift Shopping

A little reading music, to enhance the experience

I am a long-time fan of thrift shops, flea markets, garage sales, items left on people's lawns with "free" signs taped to them, etc.  My entire house has been furnished this way.  I wouldn't say that I am poor -- I have a full-time job, I'm not getting government assistance of any kind.  I like to call myself one of the "monetarily challenged" members of society.  I work, I pay my bills, but the dollar doesn't go as far as it used to so you have got to save where you can.  Hence, my love of thrift shops and upcycling items.

I scored three great things today!  One of them is so incredibly awesome that I fell in love with it immediately.  We'll save that for last, shall we?  Let the suspense build.

First, I found a cool denim vest/jacket thing at the SPCA thrift store.  Helping animals and getting new clothes -- bonus!  I think it might be for a guy, but it has pockets and is long enough to wear sort of like a tunic (well, on me it is, maybe not on taller folks).  Winning!

 Trying to get a full-length shot with the pockets, and failing

Excellent leather-feeling collar that pops up quite nicely

Next stop was a consignment shop in Hyde Park.  (I think I left consignment shops out of my list of ways I furnished my home.  My bad.  They are fantastic as well, no disrespect intended.)  The two most spectacular finds of the day were scored here.  

First, you should know that I collect nutcrackers.  I have an ever-growing family of them that I put out at Christmas time.  Today, I added a new member to the family:

Isn't she exquisite?

My mother wanted to know why I would want a nutcracker that was dressed like a drag queen.  Say what? Hello, it is obviously the Bride of Frankenstein!  Just look at her hair.

So obvious.

And now, prepare to be overwhelmed by an avalanche of awesomeness!  I fell in love with this little guy immediately!  I snatched him off of the shelf, and I may have been petting him as I continued looking through the store.  He is so fantastically adorable that I don't know how the seller could bear to part with him.

Is he not the cutest little yak you have ever seen? (It was labeled yak, that's how I know.)

OMG so cute and fuzzy!

Right now I have my new yak friend sitting on a shelf in a china cabinet.  I have to find him a safe place to live.  If I leave him out unprotected on a remotely cat-reachable area I know Jazz-kitty will maul him.  She redecorates things on a fairly regular basis.

That is a  good day's hunting.  Where else are you going to find such great things? 

And for those curious -- all together still under $20.  

  

Jazz-kitty: Music Critic

Yesterday was a long day.  Last night found me just winding down, listening to some music while I was baking a cake to take to work today.  Yes, I find baking relaxing.  I don't care if you think that makes me weird.

Anyway, I had Pandora on the Top Hits station, and Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble came on.  I wasn't paying much attention to it, just had it on in the background.  You know, when you kind of want some music but you don't really care what it is?  That's where I was at.

Jazz-kitty starts bugging out.  Running around like a crazy thing -- into the kitchen, out of the kitchen, into the kitchen, etc.  She does this on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes she is annoyed because I'm not giving her all of my attention, sometimes it is because the weather is nice and she is just hyper.  She freaks out if I have been gone longer than usual at work-- will meet me at the door and then take off running all over.  Sometimes she is just nosy and is watching the neighbors outside in their yards, or the birds, and running from window to window.  My point is this:  there are a lot of reasons Jazz-kitty could be acting like a little spaz.

The Taylor Swift song ends, and she calms right down.

No way!

Could Jazz-kitty seriously have been protesting Taylor Swift?  Has my little cat become a music critic?  I had to investigate.

I go straight to iTunes and buy the song on my phone.  I go into the living room, turn up the volume, and start playing the song on my phone.  Jazz-kitty comes running in from the other room and tries to beat my iPhone senseless.

She really does not like this song.....

I wonder if she hates other songs and I have just never made the correlation before between her bugging out and the music playing?

So I put the phone on Shuffle, and lay it on the couch cushion.  I really don't want her to destroy the phone, but maybe it is the music coming out of the phone itself that she thinks is some sort of a toy.

First song up is Let's Go Crazy by Prince.  No reaction from Jazzy.  Interesting.  I guess the iPhone-as-toy theory has been proven wrong.

Owl City Fireflies?  That has potential -- there are some high pitches in there, maybe that is bothering her ears?  No reaction.

Okay -- no more random shuffle.  Let's narrow this down.

I try a few different female singers and get no response.  She actually laid down when Beyonce was on, like she was getting a little kitty lullaby or something.

I tried Dropkick Murphys thinking the bagpipes might bother her, if nothing else.  Nope.

So I put the Taylor Swift song on again.  Jazz-kitty gets up and starts smacking her paws on the iPhone.  Seriously cat?  It really is just T-Swift you hate?

I went back to iTunes and bought one of her older songs, Love Story, to see if that would have the same effect.  It did not.  Jazzy gave the phone dirty looks, but she didn't attack it.

So I bought that We Are Never Getting Back Together song.  Jazzy was not a fan.  Flipped the phone right over and almost knocked it onto the floor.

Apparently Jazz-kitty is not a Taylor Swift fan, but if she has to listen to the music she prefers the older songs and not her newer work.

Jazz-kitty even took a self-portrait for all of you!  I started the "evil" T-Swift song that freaks her out, and then I switched the phone to camera and reversed it, then put it on the couch.  Jazzy, as we all knew would happen, starts attacking the phone.  My experiment worked, and she kind of took a picture of herself.

What a smart, tech-savvy little girl!

**On the off-chance that Taylor Swift actually ever sees this at some point:  (Highly unlikely, but you never know.)**

Dear Taylor Swift,

Hi there.  

I do not mean to imply in any way that all cats hate your music, or just your newer hits.  

I have two cats -- the other is named Whiz, and she is older and far calmer than Jazzy.  She did not care one way or the other about any of the music I played, and chose to sleep through all of this nonsense.

I just think Jazz-kitty is adorable, and this amused me to no end.  Hopefully other people find it funny as well or I will just come off looking like one of those bat-shit crazy cat ladies.  

Thanks for not suing me into non-existence over this, or writing a song about what an evil person I am.  :)