If a patron breaks wind in an empty room, does the staff notice?
So last night I was working til 9:00 PM, and I hear someone enter the room around 8:57 PM. I stand up in my cubicle to scan around, and see a couple coming in. I address the girl, but the guy answers: "What time do you close?" I say, "In about three minutes". He says, "Yeah, we just want to browse your movies real quick." I say okay and then sit back down. About 20 seconds later I hear someone rip the loudest unmistakable fart.
I sit there listening intently for reaction. Which one of them was responsible? And who would do that in a public department, knowing the staffer was right there on the other side of a faux-wall space? I hear the guy ask the girl with a slightly surprised yet amused chuckle, "Did you just fart?" Dead silence. No audible response. I continue to power-down my computer, deciding to not get involved.
Finally I hear the guy yell out to me that he's found some videos to check out. I round the corner, and the girl is nowhere to be seen. Apparently she slipped away out of sheer embarrassment. The guy chats me up while I check him out, and never once makes any remark about what happened.
Here's my theory: Despite seeing me, once I ducked down back into my cubicle, her subconscious went with the out-of-sight-out-of-mind maxim. Its night, you're in a large sterile environment, no one else is seemingly around but your boyfriend, so why not? Whoops! I forgot that guy that just talked to us 20 seconds ago is still in the room!
I would've laughed about this, yet a group of guys burst in asking if they could pretty-please use the typewriter real fast. I acceded on the grounds that it'd take mere minutes, but it ended up being 23 of them! Despite me flipping off lights, locking things up, and announcing on the phone that some patrons weren't leaving, they continued. That is until I strode forward and asked, "Are we about done here?" They could tell I was holding back, for they instantly grabbed everything and left out of the room with me. But that part of the story's just not funny.
I sit there listening intently for reaction. Which one of them was responsible? And who would do that in a public department, knowing the staffer was right there on the other side of a faux-wall space? I hear the guy ask the girl with a slightly surprised yet amused chuckle, "Did you just fart?" Dead silence. No audible response. I continue to power-down my computer, deciding to not get involved.
Finally I hear the guy yell out to me that he's found some videos to check out. I round the corner, and the girl is nowhere to be seen. Apparently she slipped away out of sheer embarrassment. The guy chats me up while I check him out, and never once makes any remark about what happened.
Here's my theory: Despite seeing me, once I ducked down back into my cubicle, her subconscious went with the out-of-sight-out-of-mind maxim. Its night, you're in a large sterile environment, no one else is seemingly around but your boyfriend, so why not? Whoops! I forgot that guy that just talked to us 20 seconds ago is still in the room!
I would've laughed about this, yet a group of guys burst in asking if they could pretty-please use the typewriter real fast. I acceded on the grounds that it'd take mere minutes, but it ended up being 23 of them! Despite me flipping off lights, locking things up, and announcing on the phone that some patrons weren't leaving, they continued. That is until I strode forward and asked, "Are we about done here?" They could tell I was holding back, for they instantly grabbed everything and left out of the room with me. But that part of the story's just not funny.