So we get some interesting folks come through the library (or who call/chat us). I thought I'd share two of them with you.
1) I got a call, and on the caller ID it said Ut St Govt. Ok. Interesting. I answer, and the first thing out of the guys mouth was "Are you in front of a terminal?". I was confused about what he was asking, so I asked him to repeat the question. He did, and I still didn't know what a "terminal" was. So I said I was sitting in front of a computer, and he was like, yeah, a terminal. Ok, so now a computer is called a terminal, good to know. He the proceeded to ask me to look up books and call numbers, though he didn't have a specific book he wanted. He asked me to go to an online translator and translate a word (forgot what it was) into Chinese (he didn't know I spoke a bit of Chinese) and then put it into the library catalog. By this time, I have a few people waiting for me. I tell him that if he isn't looking for a specific book that I can help him find, I need to go help other patrons (it had been about 7-8 mins). He tells me just to do it so I do it quick and he asks me to read through the results. And this is when he asked me if I spoke Chinese. How random. So I read him the pin yin and he asks me to click on one of them. I do, and then he wants to speak to someone about this book. I tell him the librarian isn't in right now, but I'd be happy to give him their number. He says no, he wants me to call them, leave a message with the call number of the book and his phone number. He rattles off a different phone number from the one he was calling from, but I didn't catch it before he said "Ciao" and hung up.
Come to find out, this wasn't his first (or last) time calling. He called a total of about 4 times before one of my coworkers kind of told him off. Another coworker and I did some research and found out he was calling from the mental hospital in Provo. Great. So that was exciting.
2) So I work till midnight 4 nights a week. On Tuesday night, I was sitting at a desk where I can't see out to the foyer. I by chance look that way, and see three police officers coming. Interesting, this could get good. One stays around the corner while the other two approach a man who is sitting in the chairs. One of the officers asks the man if he has a weapon on him! The man gets a bit confused and goes to check. The officer says woah, put your hands up. The man does, and the other officer asks him to stand up. He stands and the officer checks his belt loop. It looked like he might have had on an empty gun holster, and maybe another holster for like a phone or something. I think the determined that he did not have a weapon on him, but asked for his ID and questioned him about why he was there. The cops left without him, and a few minutes later he was gone. He was kind of scary looking. He was super tall (like 6'5) and had a super long, black beard, and a wide rimmed black hat.
Oh the joys of the library =]
