I haven't figured out if the warm fuzzies that I get when I help a patron who's really in a pickle come from the sheer joy of helping a fellow human being in need or from the selfish satisfaction that comes from the confirmation that I am indeed an information goddess who can find the answer to any inquiry. Whatever the reason, it's cool and I'm wishing I could give myself a big high-five right now.
A clearly flustered and sorta freaked out guy just came in looking for information about local bus schedules; while the specifics were unclear, he's been traveling across the country from San Diego for three months and somehow got separated from his gear and desperately needed to get to Cass and Lafayette and really didn't think he should go walking through the neighborhood anymore because he just figured out the hard way that Detroit isn't California.
My first thought was to panic. Crap, I know NOTHING about this - not even what the local bus line is called. (It's DDOT.) Then I remembered, hey, you ARE the information goddess, empowered with the means to tap into a vast network of information resources. After figuring out the difference between Smart and DDOT (you learn something new every day!) and coming to the realization that the DDOT bus schedule system works on Explorer, not Mozilla (f.y.i.), I was able to find the information, to the complete and utter relief of tired hippie dude in dire need of a serious bath and fingernail scrubbing.
Chances are, a few months from now I'll have dozens of stories like this and a minor information victory will seem just that - minor. But for now, I'll consider it a sort of newbie breaking-in. Welcome to the world of public service. I'm patting myself on the back and I'll go home knowing that my 8 hours here today made a difference to at least one person.
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2 comments:
Yeah, it's partly the fact that you can usually find anything in the world--b'cuz you're an info goddess, and partly that you've helped someone who wouldn't have been helped otherwise (without your info goddess-ness and access to your computer). :)
Kudos to you.
Beware. There are info needs that will make you go in the back room and cry afterward. And I'm not talking rude patrons.
Great job Alice! It can be so hard trying to find some info- you seem to have done a great job!
PS I am glad that you are a fellow goddess ;)
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