Tuesday, October 29, 2013

In Which Buying Cough Syrup Made My Day

I have a little cough.  Nothing terrible, just annoying, and I don't want it to get worse.  It's almost Halloween which is my favorite holiday, I'm on vacation, and I refuse to get sick!  Not happening.

So I popped out to a quick-mart place to get some cough syrup and ginger ale.   I'm not going to name the place or the guy who helped me as he was just doing his job.  I don't want to get anyone in trouble.

Should be a simple and easy transaction, right?  Nope.

He asks for proof of ID to buy the cough syrup.  WTF.  Seriously?  He said it was a new law.  When did this start? Apparently it has been around for a while, and I just don't buy cough syrup often enough to have known about it.

I give the guy my license.  Seems strange to me, but I want my cough syrup and I'm not going to hassle a guy for doing his job.

He looks at my license, looks at me, looks at my license again.  And then...

Guy:  No, no, no!  I do not want this ID.  I want your ID.  You are the one buying the medicine.

Me: I know.  That is my ID.  I just drove here, that's my car, and that's my driver's license.

Guy: No.  This ID is wrong.  This must be your older sister or your Mom.  I need ID for you.  You have to be at least 18 for medicine.

I laugh, thinking he's just being a funny guy and making jokes since it seems slow.  He's an older guy, maybe he's just bored and feeling a little silly today.  Maybe he just flirts with all the ladies that come in.

Guy:  This isn't funny.  I need your ID.

Me: *In my head I was like, "Say what?  OMG he is being serious!"*  Um, that is my ID.  I don't know what else I can show you to prove it.  Credit card?

Guy: No.  No credit card.  I need proof this is you.  You don't look old enough to buy beer, certainly this is not your ID.

Me: Well, then can I just get the ginger ale and have my license back please?

Guy: I don't know.  You might use the fake ID somewhere else.

Me: It. Is. Not. A. Fake. ID.  Give me back my license!

Guy:  Prove it is yours, and I will give you the license and your medicine.  If not, I will call the cops.

WTF!!!!

People, it is a good thing that I rarely clean out my purse, and I have not gone through my wallet in, as it turns out, forever.

I start whipping things out on the counter to try to prove my ID.

Pay stub.  He says it might not be mine.
Credit card. Nope.
Checkbook.  Might not be mine.

What the heck dude, do you think I mugged someone to come buy cough syrup?

Old ID card from Brockport that I still, somehow, had in my wallet.  This gives him pause.

Library staff ID.

Guy: Oh, you work at the library!  This is a good place!  Here, here, take your things!  I will give you all of your things and the medicine!  *smiling*

Me:  Thanks?  *And I paid him, before he changed his mind*

Guy: You're welcome, you're welcome!  (He's acting like we are best buddies at this point.)

Me:  We're cool?  It's okay if I leave?

Guy:  Oh yes, yes.  But you should know, that is a very bad picture of you on the ID.  Makes you look old.  You look like a kid in person.

Me:  Thank you!  Honestly, that is the nicest thing I have heard all day.  You have a very nice day, Sir!  (And I meant it.)

Guy:  You too, my friend!

In short:
--got harassed
--almost had to talk to the cops about stealing my own identity?
--the library is a magical place
--got my cough syrup and ginger ale
--apparently made a new best friend

And also decided there is no way in the world I am ever going there to buy alcohol.  If it took that much to convince him I am old enough for cough syrup I would probably have to leave a blood sample for anything else.



Monday, October 7, 2013

The Chronology of a Monday

I don't know about you, but lately my Mondays seem to really stink.  Anything and everything that could go wrong always seems to happen on a Monday.  Maybe it's just me.  Maybe you have awesome Mondays and think they are the best day of the week.

Today was not a good day.  Everyone thinks that when you work in a library it must be such a nice, quiet place where nothing ever happens and you sit and read books all day long.  That is certainly not the reality of the library I work in, or any other public library I have visited.  

So why don't we all discuss how crap-tastic our Monday was?  I'll go first.  It can be like group therapy or something.  (I have no idea if it will be like group therapy, having never been to group therapy, but people venting their frustrations should be a good thing, right?)  And hey -- if you managed to have a fantastic Monday, feel free to share that, too!  It would be nice to know that someone had a good day.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

1) Immediately upon opening the doors at work this morning the first problem was presented.  Literally less than a minute after opening, the very first patron  through the door tells us that the police had just been in the parking lot, asking if anyone had heard  gun shots.  They said no, and the patrol car took off.  This is worrisome because:
     a) There could be a gun-toting loony shooting outside.
     b) Should we even be open, giving them a very public place to hide and/or several targets in one place?
     c) I don't live that far from work.  My neighborhood is already a hot mess.  I do not need to worry about being shot.  I am rather fond of being free of bullet holes, and I would very much like to stay that way.

2) Next patron tells us that there is a tornado watch until 5pm.  WTF.  We haven't even been open for 10 minutes yet.  Could we possibly slow down the cheerful tidings a bit?

3) Coworker finds this thing in the staff area.  We have had enough weird-ass bug problems that we literally have a bug jar to trap them in.  This thing was too big to even fit in the bug jar.  I'm thinking it is the biggest black cricket I have ever seen -- like the original, primordial cricket.  I took it outside and released it back into nature.  Whatever it is, I do not want it pissed at me.


So hoping it is really a cricket
4) Patron returns a bunch of wet books and dvds, covered with what can only be described as clear slime.  She says she doesn't know how they got like that.  I point out to her that her entire bag is soaking wet and covered in goo.  She says, "Yeah.  Sorry," and throws the goo-bag back into her baby stroller with the baby and leaves.  Now I get to deal with a bunch of goo-covered items, and the desk has a puddle of slime.  Awesome.

5)  The computers start acting up, being more temperamental than usual.  I watch mine do a slow crash, as everything on the screen very slowly disappears from top to bottom to reveal a completely blank desktop.  A coworker whom had just been logged in is now being told her password is incorrect.  Multiple tries before it will successfully let her back in.  The rate this day is going, I think the computers might be becoming self-aware.  It will not surprise me if Agent Smith or a Terminator walks through the door.

6) Sanity break for lunch, wherein I flee the building and keep telling myself, "The day is almost over.  The day is almost over.  Just a few more hours."

7) Within 15 minutes of returning from lunch I am confronted by an older gentleman who has decided that it is a perfectly good idea to partially disrobe and adjust his clothing in the middle of the library, right in front of the book return.  Seriously?  There is a men's room not more than 50 feet from where you are standing. But no, of course it is a much better idea to handle your business in the middle of the floor, with all kinds of patrons and children around.   I mean he had his belt undone, pants unzipped and was adjusting himself and tucking his shirt back in.   W.T.F.  I'll just put that in the Things I Never Wanted to See category, and try to erase the memory of your boxers from my brain.  I may need a drink later.

8) It decides to rain.  Hard.  Like get really black outside and rain so hard the parking lot looks like a lake for a little bit.  Soaking wet patrons, soaking wet items being returned, and the entire library starts to smell like a giant wet dog.  Imagine what a fun place that is to be.

9) On top of all of this, our security company was in doing work on our system for the majority of the day.  We had no idea they were coming.  They tried to stay out of the way, and actually did a pretty good job.  I really didn't mind their presence at all until pieces of ceiling tile rained down upon my head while I was at the circulation desk.  The only place in the entire building where the ceiling tile crumbles and pieces fall, and it is over my head?  I have obviously done something to piss off a higher power.  

10) Just when I think I am nearing my escape, I get to stay at work for an extra hour.  I can only blame myself for this one.  Due to a scheduling problem they had to shift staff around, and I did kind of volunteer my staying as a solution to cover a hole in the schedule.  Obviously, I am a glutton for punishment.  Or crazy.  Maybe both.  I had hit that point where you think to yourself, "Screw it.  What else can possibly happen?"  Definitely time to make more coffee.

I eventually made my escape, without further incidents.  I got home, thinking I had reached a blissfully peaceful place.  I should have known the day was not done with me yet.

11) Cat drama.  One of the neighborhood feral cats whom I call Mama, as she had kittens last year, came to pay a visit this evening.  Normally this is not a problem.  She hangs out in the backyard all of the time, eyeballing the bird feeder, or just sleeping in the shade.  I leave water out for her in the summer when it is super hot, or when it hasn't rained in a long time.  My two cats could not be less interested in her.  Jazz-kitty in particular has watched her countless times from the window, never once puffing up or making a peep.  Usually she acts more like she wants to make a new friend.  


Jazz-kitty being awesome
Tonight, apparently, a line was crossed.  As I am typing this, relaxing and being grateful that the day is over, I hear this weird little mewling/growling noise.  Wiz is passed out asleep by my feet.  Now I'm thinking Jazz-kitty has managed to get stuck somewhere, or hurt herself.  Nope.  I find her on the back porch, puffed up, making weird little noises and backing away from the screen door.  There on the other side of the door, standing on her back feet, front paws and her little nose pressed against the screen, is Mama Cat peeking into the house.  Jazz flees the scene as soon as I get to the back porch.  She has never met another cat (beside Wiz) and has zero clue what to do.  She obviously will not be a great defender if I need her.  Mama Cat goes down the back stairs, sits in the driveway, and just stares at the house.  

Well, shit.  

I can't let her in.  I don't think she has ever been to the vet, so she could have who knows what wrong with her that I don't want my cats to get.  She can't be thirsty, as the rain very nicely filled up the bowl I had left outside for her.  She doesn't appear to be hurt.  So I give her a bowl of dry food, and she goes to town munching away.  Poor thing!  Who knows how long it has been since she last ate.  

Jazz-kitty reappears, apparently realizing that her food had been given away to an interloper.  I expect her to start spazzing out again, getting all defensive.  Nope. She just jumps up in the window, lays down, and watches Mama Cat eating in the driveway.  She doesn't puff up, doesn't make a peep.  So apparently everybody is cool as long as Mama Cat doesn't come near the door to the house.  

Hopefully this is the end of my excitement for they day.  I know it isn't really, as Jazz-kitty will now be running from window to window for the rest of the night, investigating any shadow or sound outside.  If that is all the drama that is left for today, I will be happy.

So how was your Monday?