Friday, July 20, 2012

"I Need Some How-to Books..."


A young man, maybe 20 years old, very tan, short dark hair, wearing a blue t-shirt and darker blue cargo shorts came to the Information Desk.

"Can you tell me where the 'how-to' books are?", he asked.

"Well, they are all spread out by subject area," I told him. "The books about how to fish are in the sports section, the books about how to fix things in your home are in the home reference section...What is it you want to know how to do?"

"I just want to know how to do stuff," he replied. "So I want books that tell me how to do things. I need some how-to books."

"You want books that tell you...how to do anything?", I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Well, we have a lot in the home improvement section, which is over here. We also have some in the science section, how to do math and that kind of thing."

"Can you show me those sections?," he asked.

"Sure, right over here." I took him to the home improvement section and showed him the books about how to fix things and how to build things. Then I took him to the science section and showed him the math books. "Right on the other side of this bay there are also books about how to learn languages", I told him, still not quite sure what it was he was looking for.

"Okay, thanks," he said. "I already found this one," and he showed me a bargain book called "HOW TO READ BODY LANGUAGE."

"Okay, great," I said.

"Well, that was random," I said to a co-worker back at the Information Desk. I told him about the customer's quest to find how-to books.

"Is it that young man over there?" he asked, gesturing to the man I'd been helping.

"Yes," I said.

"Well, he is with someone who is going to have a baby. They were just in the Family and Childcare section looking at baby names. At first I thought they were in the Sexuality section because they were giggling and I couldn't see exactly where they were, but they were actually looking at baby name books. I think he's going to be a dad. And I think he's realizing he has to grow up and figure stuff out, so that's what he's trying to do by trying to find how-to books."

Awwwwww.

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1 comment:

  1. That is a great anecdote about the expectant father. Might make for a good short story. As a reader, I'm thinking the guy is a nut case. And of course am touched to find out he's just a nervous father trying to be prepared for everything he doesn't yet know how to do.

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