Random work-related bitching

[oneiriad]

You know what's annoying - when a parent, usually a mother, comes into the library with their kid, having heard we do passports, and when you give them the forms and point out that both parents have to sign, and that yes, if they take it home to get the signatures, then the kid will have to come with them for the actual applying bit, no, we can't just say she's been seen and not have her brought. The rules are simple and straightforward - the person applying for a passport must appear in person, be it newborn infant or person on his/her deadbed. I didn't make the rules, I can't bend them, I just obey and fill in papers and wield a mean datestamp.

So why, oh why, do they always try to negotiate? Saying "but if?" and trying their level best to make me feel guilty, as if this wasn't something they could have known long before they set foot in the library, information freely available online or if they had bothered to pick up the phone and call ahead to ask, as if this is somehow my fault, like I'm trying to somehow wage a miniature bureaucratic war on them specifically, these randoms strangers that I've never seen before and probably never will again.

Ah well, at least I've finally come up with a decent comeback for the woman who ranted about how I ought to be more flexible. Something along the lines of "madam, flexibility is the privilege of the people who make the rules - us mere mortals can but obey them". Pity the bitch came and went months ago, but better late than never, right???

Comments

[icarus-chained.livejournal.com]

*groans* I know how you feel, believe me. For some reason, parents seem to be the worst, though only if the kid is actually with them. As if they need to be extra assertive in front of their kid -_-;

My favourite was the woman with six kids who came in five minutes before closing time, wanting six sets of books checked back in, time to select six more sets, those six checked out, and oh! While I'm here, can you order these three for me? NO! Come back within actual opening hours, and I'll be happy to help, but right now we're closing.

It was fifteen minutes before we could herd her back out. Ten minutes past closing time. Woman wouldn't leave until her kids got their damn books. And complained about our attitude very loudly and menacingly the whole time. *growls*

Um. *blinks* Sorry. Rant got away from me a bit -_-; But I know how you feel, yes.

[juliet-whisky.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, spoken like people without children!

Seriously, it is so difficult to take children anywhere where you need to stand in lines, or have a conversation that requires concentration for more than 3 seconds.

Having said that I get the point you are trying to make about following the rules.

[icarus-chained.livejournal.com]

*smiles* No, I don't have kids. I did, however, have supposed charge of between three to eight of my younger cousins at a given time for much of the summer for many years. I'm fully aware of how harrying it can be -_-;

That said, I mostly remembering apologising profusely for the kids, not trying to bully the poor people stuck behind the desk watching the incoming horde. I don't understand the idea some parents seem to get, like the woman I mentioned above, that bringing her child along is somehow a get-out-of-rules-free ticket, and she suddenly has the right to be as rude as she pleases about it, and blame the staff if they try to explain otherwise. That's all. *shrugs, smiles* I've nothing against parents in general, having two wonderful ones to start, just the ones who seem to take it like that.

[juliet-whisky.livejournal.com]

Some people never learn that old lesson - that you catch more bees with honey, than you do with vinegar - do they?

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've got a whole bunch of rants to go around - there's the "no-sorry-I-can't-waive-your-fines-now-please-stop-screaming-at-me-over-the-phone", the "you-the-loaner-is-responsible-for-returning-the-loaned-materials-so-please-check-your-fucking-receipt-before-leaving-the-library" and of course the all time favourite "please-read-the-signs". Any given week can probably tempt me to launch into at least two of them.

We're actually pretty popular with the parent crowd for stuff like passports, because unlike city hall we rarely have a long line (or any) and a convenient children's area where the kids can run rampant after we've actually seen them, measured them and gotten a signature out of the older ones. It's even got an enclosure-thing with those plastic balls kids seem to love.

It's just frustrating coming face to face with these women (and they're mostly women - make of that what you will) and knowing that if I let them think they can show up without the kid, they'll just come face to face with a "no-sorry-we-can't-make-a-passport-for-your-kid-without-your-kid-being-present" - and I remember this mother that came in some months ago, asking for passports for three kids, only she only had two with her, and it turned out the youngest had been sent home after having finally sat still long enough to have her photo taken, just before mom and sisters headed for the library. The look on that woman's face, well, let's just say that while I find these ladies annoying, then I am not even close to hating them enough for that.

(Mind you, I'll confess to a certain degree of schadenfreude during the summer, when a special subspecies of the breed tend to show up - the people who somehow manage to forget until two days before leaving for distant and exotic locations that kids actually need passports too, you know. How people manage to forget something like that is frankly beyond me. And then there was the time when dad was at work on a oil-platform and not due home until after the vacation...)

[juliet-whisky.livejournal.com]

The other important thing is that you can't be too careful with passports - people could be up to anything if they ask you to bend the rules. They could be trying to take their children out of the country without the other parent knowing or something, like what happened here recently.

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

Ranting is good for the soul - I find it works wonders just getting to be supremely frustrated in writing for a bit. Fresh and rejuvenated and once more into the breach, or something...

At the library I work at, this time of year, we have a very convenient way of chasing people out come closing. We simply turn off the light. You'd be amazed how quickly the last few stragglers head for the exit when the library suddenly gets kind of dark :-)