*sigh*

[kellinator]

In an attempt to deal with my work frustrations, I've been thumbing through a book titled Dealing with Difficult People in the Library.

The book is making me kind of depressed. Its advice in many places is basically the library is a public service, so suck it up. The example given is the cranky dad who rushes in three minutes before the library closes because his kid has a report due the next day. The librarian stays late to help the guy, who as he leaves is bitching because it took so long to get some books. My blood just boils reading that, but the book's only real advice is "don't take it personally." Oh, and the more people abuse you, the more you should suck up to them to "prove that you're listening to them as a person."

Am I expecting too much in thinking that people should be polite? That people should take responsibility for their own actions? Am I an idealist? An elitist? A fucking hypocrite because I can be plenty rude when I want to be?

Maybe I'm just not cut out for a service industry. Then again, I don't think I know anyone who is.

Comments

[sertrel.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether the clientele is worse when you're working in a more private library (e.g. an academic library at a private university) or working at a general public library.

As snotty as your law students are, I imagine parents and snotty brats would be much worse, especially since the former means you can't do much about the latter.

And you're not expecting too much as far as expecting people to be polite, you're just Southern. :) A friend of mine, native North Carolinian, told me about a psych study where people were evaluated on courteousness and how they reacted to discourtesy. Southerners tend to be more courteous, but they also tend to get really, really upset in a hurry if that courtesy is not returned. People from other regions were less courteous, but did not change their behavior as dramatically when they were on the receiving end of rudeness. He actually gave me the reference for the article, and I read it, so this isn't apocrypha. (The only thing I'm slightly unsure of is if it specifically addressed Southerners, or if it was just about people who were raised to be particularly polite.)

I think the one of the few ways that people can pull off unerring politeness even in the face of blatant rudeness and abuse is a deeply held internal faith or arrogance, an unassailable sense of superiority and immunity. Everyone considers them so polite, but they fail to read between the lines and realize that behind that is a cruel arrogance built on a sense of intrinsic superiority. (I have a cultural example in mind.)

[sempereadem.livejournal.com]

(I have a cultural example in mind.)

The British Gentry?