gag *cough* blah
eh-hem, called in sick today. The tilting point occurred yesterday when the customer from hell paid me a visit. The senior moment this patron was having involved late materials. She must've racked up a balance of $30+, but what really threw me for a spin was her manipulative behavior.
At first, she was concerned about the late fines she let accumulate. After I revealed to her the total balance, she presented two additional items to be returned, a couple of music CDs. These items, because they were not late, she began to inquire about. "How could it be possible that the late items I just returned were so late when I had checked out those materials at the same time I had checked out the CDs?" At the same time, however, I'm being told that when she checked her account earlier online, the two music CDs didn't appear as items charged out to her account. So she made some slight emphasis to her honesty for returning stuff she may have thought she needn't return at all seeing as her online account didn't show them as pending return.
I take the easy route and let her look at the computer monitor. I show her where her name appears as being the account for which the last two items had been borrowed. She notices that the items have a due date of June 22. I clarify to her that they indeed had a due date of June 22 but they've already been returned. She points at the charge date on the screen and exclaims "that's today. I didn't want you to check these out to me. I'm returning them!".
By now, I'm feeling the soarness in my throat. I make an attempt to demonstrate with example books just what I did, NOT charge out 2 CDs to the bitch. And as I'm doing this, she thinks of some other fucky question to ask, like "I borrowed those CDs on the same day I borrowed the other books/DVDs". My voice now cracking, I remind her that I am still attempting to display for her just what I did when I scanned the barcodes of the CDs in return mode.
She reaches her hand all the way behind the counter in an effort to count how many books she has already returned. When I say all the way behind the counter, it's because it is a stretch to reach back to where I place books, out of reach from patrons, once they have been scanned in return.
Bitch, bitch, bitch.
I can hear her thinking to herself, "well, if I'm able to reach back there to thumb thru the books and count them, I bet I can lift them up over the count so they can be in my arms again" I let her do this as it's been my experience that saying to fuck heads like that that the books are placed beyond their reach for a reason has come back to bite me in the ass. She nearly fumbles them once she has them in her arms again; I guess because she was going to make some effort to put them back exactly how she found them by reaching all the way across the counter, in reverse mode.
I thought she would never leave. At one point I had even called the librarian for support as I wasn't getting thru to her thick skull that I had not checked out the two CDs to her just now, and yes they were registered to her account, and i guess it could be possible that when she checked her account online they were not then charged to her account (seeing as the charge date was the same date she was returning them), and I dont have a logical explanation how she fucked up her account, but if you show me your charge receipt I will make yet another attempt to speak further with you regarding how something as simple as borrowing materials with a library card can lead to absurd questions like the shit coming out if your mouth in an effort to convince you to walk away with some piece of mind, no matter how fried it must be in there under that thick mass of a steel plate.
I am drowning in my own muckus, but at least I don't have to tolerate customers at work today.
At first, she was concerned about the late fines she let accumulate. After I revealed to her the total balance, she presented two additional items to be returned, a couple of music CDs. These items, because they were not late, she began to inquire about. "How could it be possible that the late items I just returned were so late when I had checked out those materials at the same time I had checked out the CDs?" At the same time, however, I'm being told that when she checked her account earlier online, the two music CDs didn't appear as items charged out to her account. So she made some slight emphasis to her honesty for returning stuff she may have thought she needn't return at all seeing as her online account didn't show them as pending return.
I take the easy route and let her look at the computer monitor. I show her where her name appears as being the account for which the last two items had been borrowed. She notices that the items have a due date of June 22. I clarify to her that they indeed had a due date of June 22 but they've already been returned. She points at the charge date on the screen and exclaims "that's today. I didn't want you to check these out to me. I'm returning them!".
By now, I'm feeling the soarness in my throat. I make an attempt to demonstrate with example books just what I did, NOT charge out 2 CDs to the bitch. And as I'm doing this, she thinks of some other fucky question to ask, like "I borrowed those CDs on the same day I borrowed the other books/DVDs". My voice now cracking, I remind her that I am still attempting to display for her just what I did when I scanned the barcodes of the CDs in return mode.
She reaches her hand all the way behind the counter in an effort to count how many books she has already returned. When I say all the way behind the counter, it's because it is a stretch to reach back to where I place books, out of reach from patrons, once they have been scanned in return.
Bitch, bitch, bitch.
I can hear her thinking to herself, "well, if I'm able to reach back there to thumb thru the books and count them, I bet I can lift them up over the count so they can be in my arms again" I let her do this as it's been my experience that saying to fuck heads like that that the books are placed beyond their reach for a reason has come back to bite me in the ass. She nearly fumbles them once she has them in her arms again; I guess because she was going to make some effort to put them back exactly how she found them by reaching all the way across the counter, in reverse mode.
I thought she would never leave. At one point I had even called the librarian for support as I wasn't getting thru to her thick skull that I had not checked out the two CDs to her just now, and yes they were registered to her account, and i guess it could be possible that when she checked her account online they were not then charged to her account (seeing as the charge date was the same date she was returning them), and I dont have a logical explanation how she fucked up her account, but if you show me your charge receipt I will make yet another attempt to speak further with you regarding how something as simple as borrowing materials with a library card can lead to absurd questions like the shit coming out if your mouth in an effort to convince you to walk away with some piece of mind, no matter how fried it must be in there under that thick mass of a steel plate.
I am drowning in my own muckus, but at least I don't have to tolerate customers at work today.