JessamynFeb 6
Drop-in time at the library has been so hectic in 2026 that I haven't really had time for summaries. I work from 2-4:30 every Thursday, first come, first served. There have been six people per week except for today when I had only five. I try to loosely keep track of my W-L record and today I went 4 for 5 which is the best I've done so far in 2026 so here's the recap.
Show threadJessamynFeb 6
1. "My phone stopped ringing"
"Flip this switch, fixed!"
"Really?!"
"Sure, let me call you"
* phone rings *
"Oh, wow, that was stupidly easy"
"Second time I've shown people how to do that this year; people don't know what they don't know"
"I also wanted to thank you for all those wonderful books you've written
"I have some bad news about the other Jessamyn West"
"I thought you looked a little young"
"Bless you, sir"
Show threadJessamynFeb 6
2. Woman trying to return sneakers bought online. She was in last week b/c she paid JustAnswers.com $5 and was worried she'd been scammed. She hadn't.
"This email says to return them?"
* reads email to myself * "Seems legit"
"How do I return them?"
"See that email they sent you? Do what it says"
"Just reply to this email?"
* reads email out loud * "Would you like help"
"Nope, I think I've got it"
"Great, let me know if you have questions"
"I may be back next week"
"I'm here every week"
Show threadJessamynFeb 6
3. "I am trying to return this kid's costume I bought online and Amazon sucks and I can't return it and Central Supply [UPS Drop Off place] says they can't read a QR code!!"
"Well, let's look through the app, I think you may need to return it using a different method, the one you used is for a UPS Store and we have a UPS Drop-Off place"
* cancel return *
"Amazon now says item can't be returned because the return window has closed!"
Show threadJessamyn

I am confused by this. Amazon might change everything overnight but I bet they didn't.

We try to fake-return another item just to see if we get another option but can't make it work (can't return food, can't get all the way through the process).

Woman is also mad because the post office is handling a lot of Amazon deliveries and she apparently dislikes the folks at the post office. They are some of my favorite people so...

Feb 6 at 2:20amWeb
Show threadJessamynFeb 6
4. Man comes in with two iPhones. "I need to get my wife's phone on our Family Plan so I can use FindMy iPhone." "Looks like your son set this up, you'll have to get ahold of him. Are you in touch?" "Sure am" (I breathe a secret sigh of relief, so often techie children set their older family members up w/ complex solutions but are not great at supporting them) "Anything else?" "Can I make a custom text tone for my wife" "Sure can" We practice texting back and forth between the phones. Great fun.
Show threadJessamynFeb 6
5. "My phone is nearly out of space, how do I get stuff off of it? My daughter says I need a new phone but I like this one" (broken screen held together with sticky tape)
"We can probably extend the life of this one, let's see what's taking up all the space" (videos, facebook)
"Do you use facebook much?"
"Mostly on my laptop"
"Oh, you have a laptop? We can move the videos off of this phone to there, then delete them"
"That would be great!"
"Come back next week. You don't need a new phone"
Show threadJessamynFeb 6

It was the middle part of a long day that also involved working with the newspaper (hi Tim!) to set up hosting a Selectboard Candidate Forum, get a slide scanner set up for our Library of Things, do my laundry at the laundromat where I run into the guy who might take my book scanner and put it somewhere available to the public, and then home to notarize some documents for a friend before dinner.

There are a lot of little jobs that need doing in this town, it's good to have some little jobs. EOM

Show threadjohn lehetFeb 6
@jessamyn You are a superhero.
Show threadJessamynFeb 6
@johnlehet I am lucky to have found a thing that is a good match for my skill set and temperament.
Show threadBodlingFeb 6

@jessamyn You know that proverb "It takes a village to raise a child"?

Well, I keep getting the feeling that you represent a similar (just coined) proverb: "It takes a librarian to raise a village."

#librarians [edit to fix dumb typo]