Off My Meds

It’s just an experiment, so I am half-in and half-out of consciousness and conscientiousness.  My media consumption habits are closely related to free association.  ‘Luther’ ran on BBCA, so I got a first look at Idris Elba and got interested in what else he’s done.  I’d always been aware of The Wire and its general ethos, but sometimes I don’t want to depress myself any more than is absolutely necessary, so I opted out of watching it until now.  It’s curious that three of the major parts: Jimmy McNulty, Thomas Carcetti, and Stringer Bell are played by Britons.

Once I got interested I decided to watch all five seasons in a straight-thru fest; which involved asking the local libraries for what ‘s on the shelves.  Successful, until I got to season 4.  Two weeks now, waiting for the four discs.  Consulted the catalog, found disc’s one and two in the next town over, which is a reasonable drive.  So off I went.  Disc 2 was easy.  Disc 1: the online catalog said it was on the shelf and therein lies a tale.  Couldn’t find it on the shelf.  Asked a librarian for some assistance.  This particular librarian looks to be in her late fifties, early sixties; wears wire rims, is overweight by (a guess) 40 pounds and wears her gray-streaked black hair long and straight, almost to her short-waisted waist.  I imagine it gets in her way quite a bit.  I would also guess that somewhere in her teens, someone told her she had pretty hair.  This branch of the library has two self-checkout stations with mini-printers.  She was fiddling with them when I asked for some help.  I should state now that I’ve worked in retail and have some strong opinions about customer service.  She made it clear that I was interrupting her complex and important task.  Yeah.  If mini-printers are a challenge, then…  From that point forward, it was clear that helping me find what I wanted was not her first priority.  I had checked ten minutes earlier to make sure the disc was available.  Definitely not on the shelf.  She did check to see if it was waiting to be shelved, but no.  From there it was: ‘Well, somebody could be just walking around with it.’  Out of over 2,000 DVD’s,  one particular disc (when I knew it had been there).  Statistically unlikely.

Went home and checked again.  Still listed as available.  Put in a hold for it to be delivered to my local branch.  I hope that makes it so she has to go looking for it.  Petty?  YES.  Like I said: off my meds.