Well, this has kind of been the week from hell. I went to visit my parents last weekend and then the nasty snow/freezing rain came causing me to miss work on Monday. Even though I waited to drive home until Monday afternoon, there was still about 50 km straight of pure ice covered in snow-drifts. Everyone on the highway was going about 50 kph but the car in front of me still ended up in the ditch. Then on Wednesday I had another altercation with a patron who's been giving me grief. Luckily my boss is backing me up and everyone I've talked to has told me that she's being completely unreasonable, but it is still very, very stressful for me to have such an ongoing antagonistic relationship with someone. Then the Internet was down on Thursday and part of Friday at work, which for me is like having someone blindfold me or tie my hands behind my back. It's very strange how dependent I've become on having immediate access to the internet. I'd think of something to do, and then it was like, "oh crap, I need the internet for that." For example, I wanted to know the definition of a word and found myself typing "define" into google before I remembered: no internet. I sat there frustrated for an entire minute before I realized HELLO, YOU WORK IN A LIBRARY. I then walked ten feet outside my office door to the dictionary in children's reference where I found my answer in about 30 secs... but Google's still faster.
In other news, I'm really, really starting to dislike PDAs. A couple of months ago, I was working the checkout desk (which I only do for one hour every two weeks, so I don't get a lot of practice). This guy comes up (who looks like he's around thirty-something) and he's got a girl with him. He wants to get a new card for his twelve-year-old daughter and to put it in his name because his ex-wife has lost the daughter's first card and is too busy to come down and get her one herself. I get the impression that he isn't too happy with his ex-wife. So I get everything ready, and I pass the new card to the girl who's standing next to him and ask her to sign the card. And the girl looks really confused for a minute and then says, "Oh. No. I'm not his daughter." And she turns to the dad and says, "Ohmigod, she thought I was your daughter!" Oooops. Obviously the girl is not his daughter but his girlfriend. And it's not like she really looked twelve, but she didn't really look old enough to be the girlfriend of a guy who had a twelve-year-old daughter either. Then, as if to make sure I thoroughly understand the nature of their relationship, they immediately start making out in front of me while I finish up with the registration. Ewww. I really, really don't need to see that. Especially in such close proximity. If I ever behave like that with a guy in public, you all have permission to kick my ass.
