A quick rant
I have a headache. I *hate* when I have headaches, it comes up from my (very tense) shoulders and makes a thick band around my head.
I'm not so much ranting about that -- everybody gets headaches, after all, but a couple of things that annoyed me today and are probably contributing to the headache. Maybe if I write about them, it'll go away sooner.
Libraries are one of my favorite places. But lately it's more like libraries *used* to be my favorite places to hang out. It's not like I expect it to be totally quiet there anymore -- I'd *like* it to be, but I guess I'm old. In order for libraries to be popular now and encourage people to come in and use them, common courtesy has gone out the window.
People are going to chat, people are going to use their cell phones, kids are going to yell and whine and make noise, okay. But all at the same time? Okay, okay. Do that. But is it too much to ask that *adults* keep their voices down? I was sitting in the magazine section, trying to read an interesting article, and a couple of older people were talking at another table. Not quietly.
So I moved to another section, which happened to be closer to the children's section. It used to have a separate room when I was a kid, but now there's an open floor plan, so you can easily hear each squeal, each shriek, and each "Mo--o-o-o-o-o-o-m!!!"
After a moment, another voice entered the fray -- there's a 'courtesy' phone next to the book return machine just inside the library doors, right next to the reference desk. A man stood there having a *loud* conversation with somebody (I didn't need to eavesdrop to know that it was something about his business losing money on a deal). Every few seconds, he would look around and say "listen, I'm at the *library*, I need to keep this down and keep it short..." and a few seconds later, he was being loud again.
So I left, even more headachy and annoyed.
Half an hour later, I went to pick up my husband at work. He works at a music store, as I have said before, which closes at 5:30 on Saturday afternoons (closed on Sundays). This year it's going to be our 15th wedding anniversary. In all those years, the store has closed at 5:30 on Saturday. He worked there for several years before we even met, and the store closed at 5:30 on Saturday.
And yet, it always seems to happen that after the door is locked at 5:30 (people can still let themselves out, they just can't get IN), people will drive into the parking lot, run up to the door, and pull. They find it to be locked (I'm watching this from my car in the parking lot). They look at the hours that are printed on the door, and then they pull on the door again. And again.
At that point, somebody is sure to come out the exit, and the person at the door invariably runs to that door, grabs it before it can close, and runs in.
Seriously, what the hell? The door is locked, you see the hours on the door, and you think you're just going to walk right in and be waited on?
Luckily, my Mr Catyah still got out of work on time, the "customer" must not have needed anything from his department. But there have been plenty of times where I've had to wait several minutes past closing so he could wait on someone who had a "music emergency". (Yes, that is apparently a thing. Example: somebody who is going to play or sing a solo that night or on Saturday morning and forgot to get music.)
Okay, rant over, thank you for 'listening'. The old cliche must be true -- joy shared is doubled, pain shared is halved -- my head is feeling better already.
I'm not so much ranting about that -- everybody gets headaches, after all, but a couple of things that annoyed me today and are probably contributing to the headache. Maybe if I write about them, it'll go away sooner.
Libraries are one of my favorite places. But lately it's more like libraries *used* to be my favorite places to hang out. It's not like I expect it to be totally quiet there anymore -- I'd *like* it to be, but I guess I'm old. In order for libraries to be popular now and encourage people to come in and use them, common courtesy has gone out the window.
People are going to chat, people are going to use their cell phones, kids are going to yell and whine and make noise, okay. But all at the same time? Okay, okay. Do that. But is it too much to ask that *adults* keep their voices down? I was sitting in the magazine section, trying to read an interesting article, and a couple of older people were talking at another table. Not quietly.
So I moved to another section, which happened to be closer to the children's section. It used to have a separate room when I was a kid, but now there's an open floor plan, so you can easily hear each squeal, each shriek, and each "Mo--o-o-o-o-o-o-m!!!"
After a moment, another voice entered the fray -- there's a 'courtesy' phone next to the book return machine just inside the library doors, right next to the reference desk. A man stood there having a *loud* conversation with somebody (I didn't need to eavesdrop to know that it was something about his business losing money on a deal). Every few seconds, he would look around and say "listen, I'm at the *library*, I need to keep this down and keep it short..." and a few seconds later, he was being loud again.
So I left, even more headachy and annoyed.
Half an hour later, I went to pick up my husband at work. He works at a music store, as I have said before, which closes at 5:30 on Saturday afternoons (closed on Sundays). This year it's going to be our 15th wedding anniversary. In all those years, the store has closed at 5:30 on Saturday. He worked there for several years before we even met, and the store closed at 5:30 on Saturday.
And yet, it always seems to happen that after the door is locked at 5:30 (people can still let themselves out, they just can't get IN), people will drive into the parking lot, run up to the door, and pull. They find it to be locked (I'm watching this from my car in the parking lot). They look at the hours that are printed on the door, and then they pull on the door again. And again.
At that point, somebody is sure to come out the exit, and the person at the door invariably runs to that door, grabs it before it can close, and runs in.
Seriously, what the hell? The door is locked, you see the hours on the door, and you think you're just going to walk right in and be waited on?
Luckily, my Mr Catyah still got out of work on time, the "customer" must not have needed anything from his department. But there have been plenty of times where I've had to wait several minutes past closing so he could wait on someone who had a "music emergency". (Yes, that is apparently a thing. Example: somebody who is going to play or sing a solo that night or on Saturday morning and forgot to get music.)
Okay, rant over, thank you for 'listening'. The old cliche must be true -- joy shared is doubled, pain shared is halved -- my head is feeling better already.