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- If there’s no signs that say you can’t talk, to hell with him. - MC
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We had an incident in town, where the parents left a kid, under 10, for 2 hours at a bookstore, so they could have lunch in peace at a nice restaurant. When they got back, the police had the kid ready to go to some safe place. The parents pretended it was no big deal.
And I thought i was in trouble leaving the kids just to go to the bathroom.
Wow, sunbear, I remember being left in the book section of department stores (remember when big downtown department stores HAD book departments?) for AGES when I was under ten…my folks wanted peace and quiet while they shopped for sheets and shoes and all the other things grownups like to buy. Of course, this was the 1960s, but you’ve got to wonder if they weren’t worried that the hippies would get me.
Hey, wait a minute…the hippies DID get me.
TVeblen: This one’s for you. My kid asks me whether we’re Catholics or Jews (we live in Brooklyn; that’s the choice). I tell 'er “Neither, really.” She asks what’s the difference. “Catholics go to church, Jews go to synagogue,” I say. She thinks for a minute. “We go to the library,” she says, “…we must be Librarians!”
Thanx and a tip of the hat to Donald E. Westlake.
Uke
Ukelele Ike:
That is WONDERFUL! It’s been a great grin to help get through another day. Hey, maybe we’
ve been converting people and didn’t even know it!
BTW, kids being just dumped off at libraries is a real problem, as it is w/ malls, etc. As my initial post indicated, the stereotype of insular safety is wrong. Bookstores, movie theaters, etc. can’t act as adequate child-sitters.
Thanks again, Ike!
Veb
Shamelessly converting our children
to reading
My sister used to work at Borders and she said people would come up to her and ask where the copy machine was. She tried to explain to them the concept of a book store, but gave up. 
At the local Walmart, people send their children to the toy section to play while they shop. The kids are playing basketball in the aisles, or removing toy guns from the packages and chasing each other around the stacks shooting each other and falling down, while the parents are trying on shoes at the other end of the store. Apparently they don’t realize that you are supposed to BUY the toys before you play with them . . .
I would have told the bookstore guy to buy his book and go home if he wanted peace and quiet - the local Books-a-Million has a play area for kids, with a TV, electric train, etc., and its certainly not quiet there!
Zette - How would I handle it? Simply look at him and say, “This is not a library. Bite me.” and continue my conversation a notch LOUDER while giving him a dirty look.
God I hate assholes…
Yer pal,
Satan
Thanks for the vote…I’ll tell him to bugger off, and that Satan told me to say that…
I normally am far from reserved, but I really didn’t know if I was in the right or not. Now I know, so just let him try and shush me again!
Some mornings it just doesn’t seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.
Emo Philips (stolen from matt’s webpage)
Patrick, my GF also works in a bookstore; she says they constantly have people asking to use the copier. Of course, some of them are probably thrown off by the fact that the store is named “The Library, Ltd.”
Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.
Is TVeblen female?
[quote]
tugging her pince nez and snood into place[/qoute]
I thought she was male like her namesake. Sorry! Mental image shift!
“Finally, consider Kottke’s voice which sounds like geese farts on a muggy day.”
Leo Kottke
6- And 12-String Guitar
S’okay, Pluto!
People who’ve met me in person have made the same mistake. It must be the stern face, ugly glasses, linebacker shoulder pads in my plain, gray suit…Not to mention my deep, booming voice. (See the thread by SmilingJaws in the Pit.)
[said with a smile! joking! humor!)
BTW, congrats on fielding the Veblen thing. Hey, what can I say, I admire eccentrics.
Well, I’m off to Barnes & Noble to talk loudly to avenge Zette…
Veb