Another day at the office

Yesterday. I started my new job at a library in Hollywood. I arrived and was shown my locker. Hmm. Okay. And my desk. On my desk was...nothing. No computer, no phone. Surely, they would be getting this set up for me. I gazed around at the other desks. No computers. No phones.

Hillary: Um, so, if I need to make a phone call or use the computer, uh, well...

(one of these devices, by the way, is needed for nearly EVERY SINGLE task I must do to fulfill my job requirements).

Boss: Oh, anyone can use this computer here. There's a phone too.

Hillary: Oooooooh.

I SHARE a phone and a computer with the other three librarians, with all of the clerks, and with the random security guard that comes by and checks his Hotmail account. If only that was the worst of it. So far, I've used the phone exactly once. The number I dialed? 9-1-1.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The first day we only dealt with a man who was upset that we don't let people sleep in the library. When the security guard (which we have for a few hours per week) kicked him out for yelling in the library, he claimed the guard had hit and injured the woman he was with. He called an ambulance. We found out the next day he's suing the city. However, both the man and the woman were back to use the library less than 24 hours later. Our best guess? He injured the woman himself and decided to pass the buck and get a buck out of it too.

Day two: man starts screaming. And I don't mean yelling, but screaming, full throttle. He thinks a person that only he is able to see hit him. He's so out of control that my boss tells me to call 911. I do. It took more than 20 minutes for anyone to arrive. By which time my boss managed to get him outside and find out that no, he didn't play any musical instruments but he just liked to wear a gold guitar earing in one ear, and that he plans to move to Hancock Park since he's already been arrested at the Beverly Hills library, the West Hollywood library, and now here. He hopped in his car (!) and drove away less than a minute before the police arrived. When I went back into the library, the children's section was full of adults. They had huddled there as it was the furthest space away from the screaming man. I had to kick them all out.