In the nine years that I’ve worked in libraries, I can safely say that I’ve dealt with my fair share of crazies.
If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you’ve probably read about many of those instances.
Luckily, today’s entry—much like Tuesday’s post—isn’t about me or any of my experiences in the library. It is, however, about an experience that is all too common in the library world…dealing with crazies.
I’ve gone into detail about the many types of library crazies in the past and told many-a-tale of my getting yelled at, but I’ve yet to ever really witness anything quite like the events that transpired earlier this week in the library at California State University, Northridge.
Let me set the scene for y’all.
It’s finals week and—as one might expect—students are just a tad edgy as a result. Some students are so edgy, in fact, that they decide to berate other people halfway across the gigantic reading room for “breathing too loudly.”
…and that’s where our video picks up:
Now is that some intense shizzle or what?!
I’ve seen plenty of people freak out and scream in the library, but it is almost always directed toward staff, rarely is it a complete outburst on the rest of the peeps using the space.
In the gal’s defense, it seems like the chicks filming the whole ordeal were going out of their way to egg her on, you know, until she turned on the entire room and went ape-shit slamming her fists on the desk and all that jazz.
At that point she’d simply crossed some sort of mystical line from legitimately annoyed to bat-shit crazy.
Finals create a ton of stress, but I’ve yet to encounter anything quite on this level, so for the second time in a week, I feel like I’ve got to say maybe I don’t have it that bad.
Blank Stares and Blank Pages 
A similar thing happened at Dewey on my watch a few years ago. It was during finals and instead of flipping out at people, the girl was tweaking at the computer-printer combo and making enough of a scene that other students complained about her noise. It was intense, there was no way to calm her down. I was having visions of her either gunning down everyone in the room or ripping the printer up and throwing it at someone during her fit of rage. Luckily that only happened the one time.
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By: Dana on December 10, 2011
at 11:13 am
I would pay any amount of money to see a patron go batshit and pull an “Office Space” on one of the library’s printers.
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By: Jeremiah Graves on December 11, 2011
at 2:47 pm
Libraries are a reality show. Fun post
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By: philosophermouseofthehedge on December 10, 2011
at 11:17 am
I feel the exact same way. It’s unfortunate that a reality show set in a library would probably get canceled for being too boring before the audience would get a chance to see something this crazy happen.
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By: Jeremiah Graves on December 11, 2011
at 2:48 pm
Oh I just hate shit like this! People who talk in the library are the same fuckers who would complain about other people talking when they want to concentrate.
Remember the UCLA Asians in the Library Rant?
Students need to catch a hint that it’s not cool!
Go get a private study room to talk or go to a public library where that quiet rule is ignored half of the time while you’re at it.
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By: insertfakeusernamehere on December 10, 2011
at 1:38 pm
I’ve yet to actually watch the infamous “Asians in the Library” video, but I noticed a lot of people referencing that in relation to this video.
I thought it sucked for the gal that she was clearly strung out and being egged on by the chicks filming the video and I was more or less on her side until she decided to blow up on the whole room with the “WHAT’S WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU?!??!” rant.
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By: Jeremiah Graves on December 11, 2011
at 2:52 pm