I Work At A Public Library
Ratings17
Average rating3.7
I was annoyed by this more than I was amused. Rather than being a fleshed out collection of stories from library workers, it was a compilation of mostly dialogue exchanges. An example:
Elderly Patron: [timidly] Where are the computers?
Me: There are some in the Adult Department and in the coffee/vending machine area.
Elderly Patron: Thank you. If I get lost, someone will come find me, right?
That example is basically tonally the feeling of the book. Aside from the dialogue exchanges being annoying, I also kind of hated how it felt like the entire book was making the same tired jokes. Haha, elderly people and computers, amirite? Haha, mental illness is funny from the outside, high five. Haha, kids say the darndest things, those rascals. It felt mean spirited in a lot of places, and honestly, just between you and me....
....a lot of the stories felt made up. Particularly when you get to some of the exchanges involving "difficult" patrons (which, don't even really sound all that difficult). A patron will have an issue with a late fee or perceived treatment or some other library thing, and whoever is relating the exchange says exactly the perfect thing at the perfect time with the exact amount of snark. You almost expect an "and then everyone in the library clapped" at the end of some of these short exchanges.
Just an overall miss with me. I gave it a star for being library-focused, but I couldn't recommend this to anyone.
I was annoyed by this more than I was amused. Rather than being a fleshed out collection of stories from library workers, it was a compilation of mostly dialogue exchanges. An example:
Elderly Patron: [timidly] Where are the computers?
Me: There are some in the Adult Department and in the coffee/vending machine area.
Elderly Patron: Thank you. If I get lost, someone will come find me, right?
That example is basically tonally the feeling of the book. Aside from the dialogue exchanges being annoying, I also kind of hated how it felt like the entire book was making the same tired jokes. Haha, elderly people and computers, amirite? Haha, mental illness is funny from the outside, high five. Haha, kids say the darndest things, those rascals. It felt mean spirited in a lot of places, and honestly, just between you and me....
....a lot of the stories felt made up. Particularly when you get to some of the exchanges involving "difficult" patrons (which, don't even really sound all that difficult). A patron will have an issue with a late fee or perceived treatment or some other library thing, and whoever is relating the exchange says exactly the perfect thing at the perfect time with the exact amount of snark. You almost expect an "and then everyone in the library clapped" at the end of some of these short exchanges.
Just an overall miss with me. I gave it a star for being library-focused, but I couldn't recommend this to anyone.