Irony in the real world
I have been trying to read this one book since November. I’ve stopped buying everything I want to read since we were moving rapidly towards bankruptcy this way, but now I’m at the mercy of my local public library. I think I have more books than they do. When it’s work books, I get them through the school library, and the staff there is a marvel of efficiency and speed, but the school pays for my interlibrary loans, so if it’s personal reading, I try to get it through the public library.
Back in November I put a hold on this book, which had been featured in Newsweek, so a bunch of folks were before me on the hold list. Finally the week before Christmas they sent me a letter saying it was ready for me, but they closed for Christmas the next day, and when I finally got back, the book had already been passed on the next person. I put another hold on it, and in late January was returning books and inquired about when I might get it—I didn’t have a hold, they said. No record of it. I put a third hold on it and waited again. Last Friday Laura’s books were due, but we were out of town, so I got online and renewed them until I could get home and return them, and my record said they were holding an item for me! Saturday morning I went to the library to pick it up—and they’ve put it in transit to the next patron with the hold on it. They called, they said, and the hold time elapsed when I didn’t come pick it up. Not very patiently—and perhaps even rudely—I explained that since I’d been waiting almost four months for the book, I was pretty sure I’d have come immediately to pick it up, if in fact they had called, which they hadn’t. We had the customary “perhaps we have your phone number wrong?” conversation before the woman began to try to convince me that yes, indeed, they did call, and I just didn’t come. Finally the manager came over—he thinks it’s in transit by mistake and he can pull it out and flag it for me, so I don’t have to wait through the next person’s hold again.
The book is called In Praise of Slowness. What are the odds?
Back in November I put a hold on this book, which had been featured in Newsweek, so a bunch of folks were before me on the hold list. Finally the week before Christmas they sent me a letter saying it was ready for me, but they closed for Christmas the next day, and when I finally got back, the book had already been passed on the next person. I put another hold on it, and in late January was returning books and inquired about when I might get it—I didn’t have a hold, they said. No record of it. I put a third hold on it and waited again. Last Friday Laura’s books were due, but we were out of town, so I got online and renewed them until I could get home and return them, and my record said they were holding an item for me! Saturday morning I went to the library to pick it up—and they’ve put it in transit to the next patron with the hold on it. They called, they said, and the hold time elapsed when I didn’t come pick it up. Not very patiently—and perhaps even rudely—I explained that since I’d been waiting almost four months for the book, I was pretty sure I’d have come immediately to pick it up, if in fact they had called, which they hadn’t. We had the customary “perhaps we have your phone number wrong?” conversation before the woman began to try to convince me that yes, indeed, they did call, and I just didn’t come. Finally the manager came over—he thinks it’s in transit by mistake and he can pull it out and flag it for me, so I don’t have to wait through the next person’s hold again.
The book is called In Praise of Slowness. What are the odds?
posted by Lisa at 2/20/2005 11:02:00 AM
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