#41 Dressed-up

Dear diary,

More changes are happening at the library, and not all of them for the best. BiblioTech has issued us with new nametags, which is actually a step up from the anonymity of being a tag-less shelver. There’s now also a formal dresscode. I received my shirt in the mail. It’s white with blue stripes and looks quite good on me, I think.

But uniforms don’t work for everyone. Talia looked very uncomfortable in hers, though that was probably more because she had to wear a skirt. I don’t think she’s ever worn one in her life – I’ve never seen her so self-conscious, especially around the older male patrons in the library. None of the women are too keen on the idea. Goldie was ‘informed’ by our BiblioTech liaison Viktor that jewellery was against dresscode policy, and that it gave a bad public image, and that we wouldn’t want that now would we?

She wasn’t the worst affected, though. Yesterday I came in and saw an unfamiliar short Asian girl behind the desk. Thinking she was a patron who’d gotten lost I walked up behind her – she was facing away from me – and coughed politely. She turned around… and it was Sylvia. She looked so, so… unusually plain, that I couldn’t hide my shock. No gothic flowing dress, no coloured and spiked hair, no nail varnish, no make-up. She looked at me dejectedly and turned back to staring into space.

I noticed that, as the shift dragged on, she became slower and more distracted. I saw her standing still for five minutes holding a pile of DVDs in her arms, which she was in the middle of carrying to the trolley. I went off to shelve and was joined by TJ, who was equally worried about her. There was little to do as SIR had finished most of the shelving, so we both returned to the desk to see if Sylvia was alright. And that’s when it happened.

There was a man waiting there, one of the regular “problem patrons”, as I found out later. He was strumming his fingers impatiently on the counter as Sylvia wandered around the returns bins in her zombie-like state. He called her over in an annoyed tone, and as she made her slow journey over to him he started up at her, calling her “useless” and “stupid” and even going for the racist remarks.

TJ ran to her aid and told the man to give her a break, but that just made him angry at TJ. They argued louder and louder. Sylvia looked panicked and hid under the check-in desk, while I stood there like a stunned mullet. It likely would’ve turned into a brawl if Bron hadn’t come then and threatened to call the police if the guy didn’t leave. He stamped off muttering to himself and left, but not before spitting at Sylvia in her makeshift coop. TJ chased him out of the library and down two streets before he was stopped by two men who must’ve though TJ was the perpetrator in what little they saw of the actual scene.

When Viktor caught wind of what happened he fired TJ just like that, with no warning, for “bringing disrespect to the library with his actions”. TJ just huffed and panted – he was catching his breath and trying very much to control his anger. He stormed out without a word. Sylvia was sent home and the rest of us told to get back to work. Sylvia didn’t come in today, and I overheard Bron talking with Goldie that she was taking a leave of absence, effective immediately.

In the space of about two weeks we’ve gone down from ten regular staff to six, plus Viktor. I’m worried about what’s going to happen next!

-Jay