(no subject)

[darchildre]

Yesterday, I had a pre-teen boy* come up to the desk and thrust some books at me without saying a word. Since he is a child who comes in frequently and my gentler efforts in this area had thus far failed me, I told him that things would work better for him if, when he wants to check out books, he tells that to the person at the desk. And also includes his name - I know this kid by sight but it's entirely possible that the next person he encounters won't.

I felt a little bad about, basically, giving this kid who is not mine and on whom I have no real relationship claim a lecture but, goddammit, he lives in a society and has to interact with people and he ought to do so in a way that is polite and at least gestures towards not being demanding and entitled.

Also, today, I've had two adults in the last hours do the same goddamn thing. Tell me who the fuck you are and what you want me to do! I cannot read your mind! And maybe consider saying "thank you" afterwards!

Maybe my lecture will prevent at least one instance of this in the future.






*His older brother used to also be a frequent patron and was always similarly rude. (I once watched him mansplain computers to our head of IT while she was fixing one of our computers.) Their many sisters are much more polite, which makes me both approve of them and also despair because of what that implies about their upbringing.

Comments

[silveradept]

I have been known to ask "what would you like to do with these?" to people who flop books on my desk, because sometimes it wasn't "check them out". It gets people to say what they want, and that way nobody gets away with expecting you to read their mind.

[darchildre]

Yeah, that's what I was referring to as "gentler methods" above. If I have to do that for years every time you come in, clearly you're not learning from it.

[silveradept]

Definitely not. One can hope that things will be better, but it will likely take encouragement from the grownups, too.

[maharetr]

I work in a school library, and oh my god, the number of kids we get silently presenting a pile of books with their borrower card on top, I have *learned* to pleasantly say "you just want to renew these, right?" when I see their record, because way too many look blank and/or affronted and reply "no, returning." "Okay, the returns slot is just over there..."