I haven't blogged in a while (I know, duh, right?).  I wanted to post this on facebook but it was way to involved for facebook.  So I put it on the long-neglected blog!  Yay...?

Patron: "I need to get a card to use at this library."
Me: "Great. I need a photo ID with current address."
Patron produces Florida license.
Me: "I need something with your current address."
Patron: "That is current. I live in Florida."
Me: *blinks eyes rapidly attempting to mentally mesh the two phrases 'I want to use this library' and 'I live in Florida.'*
Patron: "AND I live just down the street from here."
Me:  "Okay.  So you own or rent property in Monroe County."
Patron: "Yes."
Me: "Do you have anything that can help me out with getting you a Monroe County card -- anything with your New York address on it??"
Patron rifles through wallet and pulls out a credit card, glances at my expression, then shoves it back in.  After a moment, comes up with an insurance card and plops that into my hands.
Patron: "There.  How about that?"
Me: "Does. It have. Your address."
Patron: "Oh, I see, you're going to be difficult about this...!"
 
*sigh*
 
I wish I could tell these people, "Look, when you've got problems, then I've got problems -- and I don't want any more than I've already got.  I don't enjoy being yelled at, so trust me, I do not spend my day thinking up ways to make you unhappy.  I like it when you're happy.  I like being happy too."
 
Slowly, I think, I'm learning to laugh about these things.  I may struggle with them initially, but then I go vent to my coworkers and, in the retelling, make them funnier than they actually were.  That helps me realize things aren't as serious as they seemed.  Most things in life aren't.
 
Perspective can be a hard thing to come by sometimes, and usually it's only the hard things in life that are successful in revealing it.
 
There, was that pithy enough to qualify as a halfway-decent blog entry?  Hehe!  ;p
 
Well, cheers, everyone.  Have a happy day.  :)