Whip on watch

On Saturday's the library is open from 10 - 2.  The Village was having Veteran's Day festivities on Saturday and all of the usual volunteers were busy so I went in to man the front desk.  I used to do this shift all of the time but back when I did it, we were open only two hours.  The librarian was reconsidering the longer hours and asked me to make a spreadsheet broken out by the four hours we ae open.  Whoever is working a Saturday could put hashmarks on it when a patron entered and the Librarian could have an idea if the longer hours were worth it.  I was surprised to see another car in the parking lot and when I walked in the back door heard a "Hello" shouted from the front.  It was Friend Barb!   The Friends of the Library were having a book sale this morning and they had opened up the library - just for the sale - an hour earlier.  Nice to have someone else around to talk to. Barb and I caught up quickly on life but then people started coming in and we were busy.  I made the spreadsheet (along w/ an accompanying graph of course) and she went back and forth from the book room in the Village Hall to the library where we have the children's books for sale  There were people making copies, picking up library books and looking for sale books, using the computers, etc.  About one o'clock things slowed down quickly.  Technically, the Friends Book Sale ended at that time.  Barb started straightening up by putting away extra tables and books into the back  book room.  One lady came in at the very end and was very talkative.  She didn't seem to understand, despite Barb's subtle hint, that technically the book sale had been over for an hour and the library was closing now also.  Twenty minutes after two, Barb and I were in our cars and driving out of the library parking lot.  I think Saturday library duty is OK if it's a cold/snowy/rainy day but on a crisp sunny Autumn day, being cooped up, even in the library, is just wrong.