Off Topic: Idiots Posing as Librarians......

[Raineypark]

I have to share this sorry story with all the librarians (and bibliophiles) on this forum:

This afternoon my daughter and a friend went to the district library.  My daughter, unable to remember the name of the author of "Dracula" asked one of the people at the desk, who answered without hesitation "Mary Shelley".  My daughter looked at the woman, said "I think that was "Frankenstein" and got a dirty look for her trouble.

Meanwhile, her friend asked another person at the desk for the name of the author of "The Picture of Dorian Grey" and was told "That's Oscar Wilde....over in the American Literature section."

When did it become acceptable for clerks to pass themselves off as librarians?  (Please, don't let them actually BE the librarians!) 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When did it become acceptable for clerks to pass themselves off as librarians?  (Please, don't let them  actually BE the librarians!) 

Probably right about the same time they decided to allow 17-year-olds to answer customers' computer questions and advise them on which system would be best for their needs.

A few weeks back I was in Best Buy to pick up a new hard drive when I couldn't help but overhear what a fresh-faced clerk, who didn't even look old enough to shave, was explaining to a middle-aged couple who looked like they might be buying their first computer or perhaps one for a relative, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I actually did something that I'd ordinarily never do - I excused myself into the conversation and offered my own opinion because I just couldn't stand by and let what the clerk had led the couple to believe go unchallenged. As it turned out, they ultimately decided to look elsewhere for a PC. And I'm sure the clerk was pissed at me because he was probably a hair's breadth away from selling an expensive/high end system before I'd stepped in. But from the conversation and tone of questioning, the couple clearly wasn't looking for that sort of setup, and either the clerk didn't know what he was saying or he had been deliberately lying to make a sale. Frankly, I don't know which alternative would have been worse. :-

[Raineypark]

...and the Mysterious Benefactor comes to the rescue again!!  Foiling the machinations of evil little twerp clerks and making the world safe for neophyte computer purchasers!!

Jeez!...you could have gotten yourself beaten up in the parking lot!!

And thanks for NOT asking why I have no copy of "Dracula".  There are 1,000 books in this study and one of them is SUPPOSED to be "Dracula"! 

[Birdie]

MB,
        You rock.  It really is good to get involved and help someone out.  You do it everyday here and even out in the "real" world.

         I like Circut City better than Best Buy.

Birdie

[Birdie]

Rainey,
             I have to comment also on very poor English teachers.  My l4 year old had one that was so bad this year.  One of the many reasons I hate tenure.  The poor excuse saw my daughter reading "The Once and Future King", and told her that he never read it because it was too big and intimitating.  When he assigned a research project he demanded that the students have the same amount of note cards per reference.  Hello, not all books have the same amount of important info.  I know I can't spell for beans but I swear I could have taught the class better.

Birdie

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Jeez!...you could have gotten yourself beaten up in the parking lot!!

LOL - honestly, that never even entered my mind. But I had two friends with me and the kid must have been at least 30 pounds lighter than any one of us. Though that might not have been much of an advantage if he'd gotten a few of his buddies to "help" him out.

I guess what you're saying is that I probably shouldn't shop at that particular Best Buy for at least the next few months, huh?

[Raineypark]

I guess what you're saying is that I probably shouldn't shop at that particular Best Buy for at least the next few months, huh?

Please don't.....unless you're a Master of Disguise as well as All Things Computer.

And while I have your attention.....now that the odious Mr. Yeager is dead, can we please rid ourselves of that obnoxious image of his moustache and nose through a magnifying glass?   

[Josette]

I like Circut City better than Best Buy.

Good for you, MB!  I don't know if I could step in (but then, I'm also not as expert as you), but I know it would bother me to hear someone being led so astray as that.

I too, prefer Circuit City.  I've only been in Best Buy a few times.  Once was for a VCR and I asked about a particular feature and was told that a certain feature would do what I was asking about.  When I subsequently went to Circuit City, I learned that that feature was something else entirely!!  Of course, you can't judge an entire chain of stores on one item from one salesperson, but just in general when I've looked in there, it seems to be hard to find anyone to help, for one thing.  So far, Circuit City has seemed to be good.

[onyx_treasure]

     I find our local librarians to be either polite and helpful or rude and dismissive.  My trick is to approach and depending on their facial expressions I either ask my question or smile and move on.  My sister worked as a clerk in a college library.  She told me that all the scary weirdos come into the library so maybe rudeness on the librarians faces is a defense mechanism.  My sister ended up being stalked by a dangerous person but he did not know where she lived.  Security kept him off campus and he eventually gave up. However, it is believed that he destroyed some library books  before he was discovered.
     My husband thinks Best Buy stores are a disorganized mess.  We have been ignored everytime we go there which is no problem since we would not buy anything there anyway.

[Luciaphile]

     I find our local librarians to be either polite and helpful or rude and dismissive.  My trick is to approach and depending on their facial expressions I either ask my question or smile and move on.  My sister worked as a clerk in a college library.  She told me that all the scary weirdos come into the library so maybe rudeness on the librarians faces is a defense mechanism.  My sister ended up being stalked by a dangerous person but he did not know where she lived.  Security kept him off campus and he eventually gave up. However, it is believed that he destroyed some library books  before he was discovered.

Well, speaking as a newly minted reference librarian, I already have some battle scars from some of the more um, eccentric patrons. I am learning to cultivate distance as a quality when my RADAR starts going off as I speak with a patron. And while I won't go into details, mainly because it's just too gross to relate, a very recent experience has taught me once again that there can be some pretty weird and disgusting goings-on in libraries.

As far as bad reference experiences go, I've had some of those as well. There are several possible explanations:

1. You caught someone at the end of a very long, very bad day.
2. The person at the reference desk has expertise in another field, but is made to do reference duty by their director.
3. The librarian doesn't know what he/she is doing. It happens 

Luciaphil
who taught her 4th BI today and is feeling pretty damn drained.

[Patti Feinberg]

Well, speaking as a newly minted reference librarian...
Luciaphil
who taught her 4th BI today and is feeling pretty damn drained.

Hooray for Luciaphil!!!! I have volunteered lots at libraries; great to have them.

(psst...what's a BI??)

Patti

[MsCriseyde]

The poor excuse saw my daughter reading "The Once and Future King", and told her that he never read it because it was too big and intimitating.

Now that is truly frightening. I was required to read that one during the summer before my sophomore year of high school.

When I was a sophomore, we had a coach for our half-semester geography class. It was pretty obvious he wasn't hired for his intellect, especially since he never even bothered to read the textbook. When we were discussing the Soviet Union, he was trying to convince the class that the Supreme Soviet was the guy in charge of the country just under Gorbachev. 

Apparently, the fine tradition continues. I know someone who works on computers at the school and on occasion is in the classrooms working while they're holding class. Some very interesting things transpired during the Vietnam War. 

[Luciaphile]

(psst...what's a BI??)

Bibliographic instruction, basically a class that students take where they learn how to use databases and the library in general.

[Philippe Cordier]

Re: Best Buy, not librarians -- God bless (some) of them.   

Yes, these are all the reasons why I decided not to even consider Best Buy when I began looking into my first computer purchase a couple of weeks ago.

However, my current experience with Dell has been hell on earth -- I made an upgrade, for which I've been charged over $300 but didn't get what I paid for and have been at their mercy for the past three weeks with no resolution in sight.

Now I find out that I could have found almost the same thing -- actually a Compaq Presario with more memory and a faster processor from Best Buy online.

Still exhausted and at the mercy of Dell, whose customer "care" staff couldn't "care" less.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Re: Best Buy, not librarians -- God bless (some) of them.   

I probably should have said something earlier than this but one unknowledgable (or posibly even conniving) salesperson does not a bad chain make. I'd recommend Best Buy to anyone who's looking for any sort of electronics. Their prices are quite competitive, and when they have a sale they're more than competitive. Also, their DVD section is another plus. I usually buy my DVDs online, however, I have to say that I've bought several DVDs at Best Buy because they've actually had a price that was even cheaper than anything I could find online. For example, the cheapest price I've ever seen for the 1987 vampire film Near Dark (which I heartily recommend to everyone) is $23.75 (it's a two disk set), but I got it at Best Buy last year for only $20.98 w/ tax.

Still exhausted and at the mercy of Dell, whose customer "care" staff couldn't "care" less.

I'm really shocked that you've had so much trouble with Dell because everyone that I know who has ever bought a Dell has raved about how great their support is. Also, Dell consistently ranks at the top of customer support surveys. In fact, PC Magazine readers gave them an A in their latest reader's survey.

Perhaps you should report the person or people you've worked with to the main Dell office. Seriously. Sometimes you just have the bad luck of getting some arrogant SOB who thinks you're at their mercy - not that they're there to help you. No one should have to put up with what you've been through. And if enough people were to complain about certain support staff, chances are they wouldn't be likely to remain part of the support staff for too long.