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Today as we were checking in our usual huge pile of book drop books, a man who looked like a cross between Sam Elliott and this guy stomped up to the desk, clearly pushed out of shape about something.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but when can a WHITE MAN use the computers?”
You know how they say there are all kinds of silence? Well, add to the list of silences the ghostly noise of a fleet of interrobangs materializing over the heads of four librarians.
“Because every time I’ve come in here over the PAST THREE MONTHS,” he said, “the computers were all taken with—with—” He gestured wildly behind him at the patrons. Our library is in one of the few areas of Salt Lake not filled to the brim with glow-in-the-dark whitefolk, and the patrons at the computers reflected that—we especially have a lot of folks with backgrounds from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
The interrobangs multiplied, but one of my coworkers managed to rally as the guy ranted. “Well,” he said, “have you made a reservation for the computers?”
“Reservation?!” He was starting to remind me less of Sam Elliott and more of Yosemite Sam. “I need a reservation?”
“Yes,” my coworker said evenly.
“You’re messing with the wrong dude,” Yosemite Sam said.
And with this nonsequitur he stomped out.
My coworker looked at the rest of us. “Did you guys all hear that, too?”
“Oh, good,” I said. “I thought it was just me.”
We then spent the rest of the day wondering exactly what our irate patron hoped to accomplish by mentioning his race (and sex).* And how profoundly, deliberately obtuse you have to be to not figure out how the computer system works** and then use this perceived injustice as a rationalization for the chip on your shoulder. Makes me wonder who else has been “messing with” poor ol’ Yosemite, and whether he’s spent his whole life sabotaging himself because he’s too busy noticing how other people are deliberately holding him back.
Yessir, life is hard when you’re a paranoid racist asshat convinced everyone is trying to inconvenience you. Won’t somebody please think of the paranoid racist asshats?
*“What'd he expect us to do, yank somebody off a computer bodily?”
**Seriously, most folks either figure it out for themselves, or ask the first time they come.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but when can a WHITE MAN use the computers?”
You know how they say there are all kinds of silence? Well, add to the list of silences the ghostly noise of a fleet of interrobangs materializing over the heads of four librarians.
“Because every time I’ve come in here over the PAST THREE MONTHS,” he said, “the computers were all taken with—with—” He gestured wildly behind him at the patrons. Our library is in one of the few areas of Salt Lake not filled to the brim with glow-in-the-dark whitefolk, and the patrons at the computers reflected that—we especially have a lot of folks with backgrounds from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
The interrobangs multiplied, but one of my coworkers managed to rally as the guy ranted. “Well,” he said, “have you made a reservation for the computers?”
“Reservation?!” He was starting to remind me less of Sam Elliott and more of Yosemite Sam. “I need a reservation?”
“Yes,” my coworker said evenly.
“You’re messing with the wrong dude,” Yosemite Sam said.
And with this nonsequitur he stomped out.
My coworker looked at the rest of us. “Did you guys all hear that, too?”
“Oh, good,” I said. “I thought it was just me.”
We then spent the rest of the day wondering exactly what our irate patron hoped to accomplish by mentioning his race (and sex).* And how profoundly, deliberately obtuse you have to be to not figure out how the computer system works** and then use this perceived injustice as a rationalization for the chip on your shoulder. Makes me wonder who else has been “messing with” poor ol’ Yosemite, and whether he’s spent his whole life sabotaging himself because he’s too busy noticing how other people are deliberately holding him back.
Yessir, life is hard when you’re a paranoid racist asshat convinced everyone is trying to inconvenience you. Won’t somebody please think of the paranoid racist asshats?
*“What'd he expect us to do, yank somebody off a computer bodily?”
**Seriously, most folks either figure it out for themselves, or ask the first time they come.
