Monday, July 15, 2013

Dig Beneath the Surface

That is this year's Summer Reading Program theme. Even the staff sign up for it. I have read (finished) 1 book so far this summer. Today my name was drawn for this week's staff drawing!!! Woo Hoo.

It was a $25 gift certificate at a local BBQ restaurant!!! Ahhhhhh! To die for! Guess where we had supper tonight! I had four luscious ribs, corn on the cob and more cole slaw than I could eat. (It really wasn't that much slaw, but I made sure I ate everything else first and was quite full!) I did get about half of the slaw eaten. I had over $2 left over which I put towards the tip!

That gift card didn't last long! My husband picked me up at 5:00 and we headed right for the restaurant. It was gone by 6:00!!! Can't beat that, though - no dishes to wash or a kitchen to clean up and a wonderful meal, to boot!!

Thursday, July 04, 2013

What are the odds???

There may be nothing to come of this encounter, but just the fact that this much has even happened is amazing. I'd put it on the level of a "God Thing."

I was working the reference desk when a patron came in. I helped him with his question then commented on his cap. It had a certain sports logo on it.  He said he used to live in that state. I asked him where, with a motive for asking. He named a town - which is 17 miles west of where we used to live. I related to him that I used to live in this other town. [In fact we still have our house there, waiting for someone to buy it.]

He replied with 'I just drove through [said town] looking to see if there were any houses for sale!!!

X - drop jaw open here!!!

So the next few minutes were spent sharing with him about our house and what it was like, etc. Whether he ends up buying it or not, this alone is a rather Odds-busting encounter!!!

Whoda thunk???

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

"Customer Service"

Serving the patron comes in all kinds of ways. today it meant swapping money!

We had a patron that is on leave from her marine post in Europe. She comes to Rogers every summer to visit family. She wanted to get on a computer but with out a library card she could only get on our guest machine. It gives the user 15-20 minutes at a time and often isn't enough. We more than once have extended the time for folks, especially when there is no one waiting. Well after the third or fourth time, today, one of the librarians suggested that maybe she would like to get a temporary card. The catch was that it would cost her $5.00.

For a moment it looked like all was lost. All she had was foreign money, -euros! Luckily - we just happen (!) to have on staff a man who is a coin collector including paper money. He more than happily "bought" her 5 euro bill for $5, American. Of course he got a deal on the exchange. But she got access to the internet more than 15 minutes a day. Now she can chat it up all she wants with her friends back in Germany!!

Now isn't that service!