On Thursday, I'm generally assigned to help in the computer lab at the library to help patrons with their computer and internet needs (besides looking up porn, ew) ... There are a few behaviors and attitudes though that completely baffle me and whenever I run across them, I am at a loss as to what to do...
The 'I Don't Know What I'm Doing, So Why Don't You Just Do It For Me?' Patron...
This is by far the most numerous patron, and not all of them are bad, but the few who are extraordinarily bad ruin it for everyone else. This is the patron that has no idea how to use a computer, but doesn't want to learn to use one either... they tend to be older and male. They will give me their objective (i.e. I want to apply for a job) and think that I can pull a magic wand out of my ass, wave it, and the computer will do it for them. When I gently try to explain that I can't go to the website and type everything out for them, they become hostile and say things like 'Well, I can't do this on my own' and 'You're supposed to be helpful' or 'They said the library could help me' (whoever the mysterious 'they' is) ... I don't mind sitting down and kind of guiding them, but I really don't have time (or patience depending on the patron) to sit down and take everyone by the hand through it. You need to have a little knowledge with computers before you come in here.
The 'I Will Pay You Because You Are A Fast Typer And I Am Slow And Lazy' Patron.
I spend a fair amount of time on the computer; therefore, I am pretty fast on a keyboard. I get patrons who come in wanting to type up letters and various other documents, but they don't want to hunt and peck through the program themselves. They think they can give the document to me and I will pop it out of the printer all perfect and formatted in ten minutes or less.... but my job doesn't allow me to do it. If it did, I would be typing ALL DAY and I can't say that would be a very fun or engaging job for me. Our job at the library is to help you learn to use the computer for yourself. It's like that old saying 'Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime' .... at the library we want to teach people to fish. THEN as if that isn't bad enough, they like to wave money in my face and say 'Mr. Lincoln thinks you can do this for me' and I say in return 'Mr. Lincoln, I'm not putting my job on the line for you. Get your nasty bribe away from me.'
The 'I Don't Know Anything About Computers, But I Know More Than You' Patron...
This is my number one pet peeve kind of patron and thankfully they are few and far between. This is the patron that flags me down to help them, and then when I try to give them direction as to what I would do about the situation (I am the computer assistant after all) - they decide that they want to argue with me about every single little click. They won't do what I advise. They do what they want to anyway, and then generally when they come back in another day, I get chewed out by them for something I didn't do, but I was standing there 'helping them' when they shot themselves in the foot, and they hate admitting that they are wrong. For some reason, even though they themselves messed up, they are convinced that I don't know what I am doing and therefore, call someone else to ignore.
The 'I Refuse To Believe That's How Cyberspace Works' Patron...
Okay, so this has only happened once, but I thought it was so humorous that I had to share it. I was trying to help a patron log into his email account. He said that he forgot his password and I obviously have no idea what it is, so I said that if he couldn't remember, he would have to reset the password. He said he didn't want to because if he did that, then he would have to remember 2 passwords. I thought he might have been using the same password for every site, and I gently explained that resetting the password was our only option to regain his email account. He then said that if he logged in with a new password here, he was going to have to go through a bunch of trouble to reset the password from the other computer as well. I said, well cyberspace doesn't work that way. Sure, the computer is the hardware but your email account doesn't really exist on it. It exists on the internet, in the air. If you change the password here, the password will be changed everywhere. He had a difficult time grasping this and blew me off and then three other computer librarians told him the same thing....
The 'You Help Me Set Up My Email, So What Is My Password?' Patron...
.... do I really need to explain how this is annoying? Are people so self-absorbed that they think I will remember all of them and their email passwords???
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