Seth

"I DON'T LIKE YOU. I DON'T LIKE YOU AT ALL!"

Seth, a member of our Writers' Circle and a patron I had worked with several times, didn't exactly shout these words at my colleague, but he spoke them so loudly that several patrons in the small building turned and stared. The outburst occurred after Seth stormed up to the desk and demanded to speak to "his leader" (referring to me). At the time I was so deeply involved in researching assisted living facilities with my patron that I simply ignored him. But I cringed when Amy gently reminded him that I was with someone, and Seth emitted a response that more polite people might think but would not say aloud.

Everyone who works with the public grows accustomed to assisting people whose behavior is - different. And Seth clearly has issues, though prior to his outburst at Amy he had never exhibited them to such an extent. Even as I continued to work quietly with my patron, concentrating on finding ratings of local residences for older people, I felt guilty, as if the fact that Seth wanted to talk to me made me responsible for his behavior. And my heart went out to Amy, who managed to recover from her shock quickly in order to assist other people.

When I was free to talk to Seth, I helped him obtain the information that he needed (directions to the county board of social services) - but made it clear that his outburst was unacceptable. "We need to have respect for you," I told him. "But you also need to have respect for us." Unfortunately, he didn't quite understand that it's not always necessary to express thoughts aloud. "I say what I feel," he responded. "There are some staff members that I like, but there are others that I don't."

I told the Head of Reference that we may have to be aware of Seth's actions, but I'm hoping that he'll manage to restrain himself in the future. Even if he manages to do so, however, someone else will surely cause a commotion - perhaps a worse one. Coping with these incidents (and we are thankful that there are few of them) is part of the job.