(no subject)
Oct. 3rd, 2011 11:56 amIn which I am a bad person:
So, a patron comes in with a question about our online catalog and my coworker is helping. And my coworker, as is her wont, starts talking to the patron about how confusing and unhelpful our online catalog is. She can't find stuff, she can't figure out how stuff works, this goes on for about five minutes, so I go over to help. At this point, I'm already a little peeved, because she's always trash-talking the catalog which makes perfect sense to me, and frustrated, because it's frustrating watching people flounder at stuff that should be easy.
The question is about the list function, which allows you to make a list and then put titles on the list that you're interested in but don't want to immediately place on hold. There's a check box to put an item on the list and, if you check it and haven't made a list yet, it says something along the lines of "Create a list before attempting to keep an item". Perfectly understandable, right? There's a link at the top of the page called My Lists where one would obviously go to create a list. Coworker says something along the lines of "Well, that's very confusing and if you're clicking too fast, you wouldn't understand it."
At which point, I muttered, "Well, if you can't read then the catalog isn't going to be much use to you at all."
In my defense, the patron did not in any way hear me. But I shouldn't have said it - that was awful of me.
I just get so frustrated with people who don't bother to read helpful instructions and then complain because they can't figure things out. Maybe you should read the words on the screen that will tell you what you need to do, and then things will be easier.
Grr.
So, a patron comes in with a question about our online catalog and my coworker is helping. And my coworker, as is her wont, starts talking to the patron about how confusing and unhelpful our online catalog is. She can't find stuff, she can't figure out how stuff works, this goes on for about five minutes, so I go over to help. At this point, I'm already a little peeved, because she's always trash-talking the catalog which makes perfect sense to me, and frustrated, because it's frustrating watching people flounder at stuff that should be easy.
The question is about the list function, which allows you to make a list and then put titles on the list that you're interested in but don't want to immediately place on hold. There's a check box to put an item on the list and, if you check it and haven't made a list yet, it says something along the lines of "Create a list before attempting to keep an item". Perfectly understandable, right? There's a link at the top of the page called My Lists where one would obviously go to create a list. Coworker says something along the lines of "Well, that's very confusing and if you're clicking too fast, you wouldn't understand it."
At which point, I muttered, "Well, if you can't read then the catalog isn't going to be much use to you at all."
In my defense, the patron did not in any way hear me. But I shouldn't have said it - that was awful of me.
I just get so frustrated with people who don't bother to read helpful instructions and then complain because they can't figure things out. Maybe you should read the words on the screen that will tell you what you need to do, and then things will be easier.
Grr.