The musings of ME:
SAH mother of 3 kids, spouse of a doctor-in-residency, caretaker and teacher of random children.


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Letter to the Editor- part 2

Yesterday in my anger I left a message on the library answering machine about my frustrating experience and left my phone number in case someone would like to call me back. I was polite in my message, but it was obvious that I was very upset. Today the manager (?) called me back and basically said she was sorry for my experience. However, she said, the librarians are tired at the end of the day and ready to go home, they had already turned off the computer system and so they couldn't have helped me anyway and their clocks are set differently than other people's watches and that their employees get frustrated when people wait until the last minute to come to the library.

What?! Excuse me?! That is your response?! You have got to be kidding me!

I politely but curtly said that my car clock is set to local time and temperature, and perhaps they might want to consider making sure their clocks are set to that as well to avoid future discrepancies regarding accurate time. She assured me they had done so already this morning after my call.

To her pointed comment about people waiting until the last minute, I was seething, but responded that I do not close my preschool until 5:30 and that my husband was not at home so I had to bring both my boys under the age of 2 with me. It took me a few minutes to get out the door, a few minutes to get to the library, and a few minutes to get them both out of the car, but that I was at the door at 5:53 and was unable to be served. I had not intended to wait until the last minute. In fact, I had actually tried to get the books the night before, but was unable to make it until 7:45 the previous night (on Tues and Thurs they close at 8) and a librarian was standing guard at the front door, shooing people out and not allowing new patrons inside, so I didn't bother to get out of the car since that night I had not requested the books yet and I would have had to search for them myself.

Her attitude was that of making an obligatory phone call, but not caring much about my experience. She was in a hurry to get "call disgruntled library patron" checked off her to do list for the day as she rushed me off the phone and talked over me when I replied to her comments. Her apology was insincere and her reasons for her employees' actions were weak. I'm all the more irritated and fired up to write a letter, but based on the comments I received on my last blog post, I'm thinking I need to take time to get my facts straight first, and possibly find out who the chain of command is and who to write to (if I decide to do that) before I publicly attack the library. I feel validated knowing that so many people share my concerns and frustrations, so thank you for that!

GGGRRRRRRR!!!!!

4 comments:

Lana said...

we paid extra to go to the fort worth library, which I loved. You might think about swtiching.

Sorry.

Lana said...

I mean sorry you had a bad experience(s)

Colette said...

colleen, this is Colette Hatch...I found your blog from holly's. I check in once in awhile. (I guess that's called stalking in blogger lingo?) Anyway, I'm sorry you had all those bad experiences. I hate that frustrated feeling. I just wanted to tell you that the one time I went to the saginw library, the lady who helped me mentioned (out of the side of her mouth, like it was some top secret thing) that I could get a Tex Share card from the FW library (which is free) and then I could use the Saginaw library for free. I just got my Tex Share and haven't had a chance to try it out, but I'll let you know. oh, and if you want to see my blog send me your email...colettehatchATgmailDOTcom

Shana said...

If you want my two cents of the situation- here it is!
WRITE THE LETTER!!!
Bad customer service is the worst, but what ticks me off even more is when the "manager" doesn't even seem to give rats crap. Are they not there to service the community? I don't think you are being overly tasking of them.
GRRRR! Now I'm fired up for you! I hate that!

AGAIN- she had her chance to make the situation right, now you should WRITE THE LETTER TO THE NEWSPAPER!
GOOD LUCK!