Saturday, November 21, 2009

Secrets of National Library

This is our National Library. These few days I have been working the Library as a temporary staff to look after an exhibition. I only worked there for 2 weeks and pleasantly, I discovered some stuff about the visitors of the library. The normal visitors will not notice such things. It's only when you are there everyday and stayed there the whole day then you will notice.

1) On the first day of my work there, I saw this guy wearing tight jeans and brightly colour t-shirt with a scarf around his neck. I remembered him clearly because he was wearing lipstick.... Bright red lips. He was carrying a lot of stuff and he left them in the locker there.

From the on, I see him everyday. Everyday, he will come and put his stuff into the locker then he will wander off. I noticed that he always carry this green handbag and sometimes a pink hello kitty bag too. I asked the security guard about him and she told me that this guy is very famous in the library. He sometimes dress as a boy and sometimes a girl. He will wear a short skirt or dress and wander around the library but never read. When he dressed as a boy, his name is Robin. When he dressed as a girl, his name is Robina.

LOL.....

2) There is another uncle. He walks in a funny way like his feet were pressing the floor very hard. He also come to the library everyday. Sometimes he will talk to the guards or even the visitors of the library. He dressed sloppily like he hasn't bathed for a long time. The guard told me that this uncle always pretend to be a library staff. He will walk around and tell people that he has business in the library. The guard even told me that sometimes he stinks, like he didn't clean himself after going to the toilet!

My god....

3) Then there is this korean guy, whom I didn't get to see during my 2 weeks there, he was very famous among the guards. Everyday, he will come to the library and when the guards asked to check his bag, he will shout and scold vulgar words at the guard. Then he will take out all the things in his bag and throw around the floor to show his unhappiness.

The guard will normally ignore him because he comes everyday. After awhile, the korean guy will cool down and pick up his stuff, put them in the locker and go into the library.... I heard that he will go to every level to scold the guards but I dunno I am heng or wat, I never encounter him.

4) Every morning, before the library opens, there will be 2 groups of people lining up outside. One batch is the students, the other is the old people. According to the guard, when they opened the doors to the library, the old people will all rush to the right side and the students will rush to the left side. Reason is, the old people and rushing to snatch the day's newspaper. The students dash to the table to take the plug.

LOL, why do they need to line up early in the morning and fight with the other old people for the newspaper? It's weird lor. The guard told me that sometimes they will read the newspaper until they fall asleep. Then the guard has to wake them up... They will wake up, read and fell asleep again.

5) I noticed also a skinny old man who comes to the library everyday. He will walk up and down the building, taking the escalator. Everyday, he wear the same clothes, once a while he will change but basically he wear the same style. He will go up to the top floor then come down by the escalator every morning. I have never seen him walked into the library and hold any book in his hands before. He will just stuck his hands in his pockets and wander around the library everyday. I think he is too bored....

The guard told me that they feedback to the manager about all these regular visitors but the management responded that as long as they don't disturb the other visitors, the guards can just let them be. Let them walk around the library as they want because the library is a public place.

If one day you go to the National Library. You will notice these people... If you observe carefully.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

littlebird:

I used be students who line up to wait for the library to open and rush to get space. Back then i have no internet (my family is very 吝嗇 people), and i need the internet to do homework.

It's funny about those elders who fell asleep and get woke up then fell asleep again.

annoynimus coward said...

talking abt 吝嗇 ppl, the NLB is even more 吝嗇 lor, why did they bar the public from accessing The Pod at the top level?

by all means dun put any power points in the pod lar, so those laptop champions wont hog the spaces, dun put newspaper also can liao.

how come so xiao qi one? ok loh, i get it, it's built with public money but only for VIP to use.

Miko said...

lol... thats true but i think they seal it off for functions. Like the exhibition i was working for had a ceremony at the pod. They probably dun want uninvited guest to join in ba... but anyway there is nothing up there.

a whiner who only know how to complain but cannot action said...

i know theres nothing up there, it's practically valueless except for the scenery n the space

n 'nothing' is precisely the point i am making since theres nothing, the library doesn't really have anything to lose if they could just be a little more generous n open it for the general public to enjoy the scenery from up there.

it's not as if there r dinosaur bones on permanent display there isn't it?

n i dun think it is so popular theres a function there everyday, by all means open it to the public, n when theres a booking, seal it off for functions, it's a simply enough task that wont require a team of 10 PHDs to execute.

aiyah, they just stingy lah, scrimp n save on a few electrical dollars for the lights n manpower to clear paper cups.

for goodness sake hopefully one day they wake up n realize that the taxpayers paid for it.