Monday, March 4, 2013

Labels, Assigning


We keep an electric stapler and an electric pencil sharpener on our checkout desk. Because of some confusion in the past, we labeled the stapler. STAPLER, it says. Even so, we often have to point it out to people and give them directions on how to use it.
One day while my back was turned, I heard someone fumbling at the stapler. “Just put it straight in,” I offered.
“What?” a girl asked, sounding very confused.
I turned and realized that she was trying to sharpen her pencil. In the stapler. The stapler labeled STAPLER.
I showed her where the pencil sharpener was, which was approximately 3 inches to her right. After she left I made a label for it, too.

1 comment:

  1. I recently witnessed a patron at the Central library in Des Moines try to login to a computer by inserting his library card into the floppy drive. Then he just sat there, waiting for something to happen.

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