Squeaky Sphincter
Yeah, ok, I get uptight about stuff. I try, oh I try to “live and let live”…and in a lot of ways, I do.
One of my employees recently said she admired my, “Zenlike attitude about everything” which I took as a huge compliment.
Only, I’m not exactly Zenlike about *everything*. No, there are a few things that get my knickers in a bunch, falling squarely into Dr. Freud’s line of studies.
Oh I’m anal, baby, but really only about certain things.
So, what’s got my chones in a gather today?
Well, because I’m traveling on a plane, I made sure I went to the library and stocked up on good reading materials. Stuff to keep me engaged as the Sierra Nevadas, the desert floor of Arizona and, finally, the Sandias pass underfoot.
This is a fairly new book, copyrighted last year. It appears by the librarian’s diligent date mark on the front page that it was put onto my local shelves about a year ago. A year. And I’ll be damned if this thing isn’t already dog-eared.
Of course, by dog-eared, I mean SOMEONE HAS FOLDED DOWN THE CORNERS OF THE PAGES TO MARK THEIR PLACE.
I believe there is a special level of hell for someone who folds the corners of a library book.
Look, if it is your book, you own it, bought and paid for, fine. Live and let live. C’est la vie. Vaya con Dios and go for it. Fold those pages with reckless abandon! Crack the binding and drop a forkful of lasagna on the denouement. Smudge the ink with your greasy thumbs and have yourself a careless ol’ time.
But if it’s a book that belongs to the local library, meaning people OTHER THAN YOU will be borrowing and reading it, do us all a favor, and try to keep it nice, ok?
Also, look, I’m sure that smoking and reading is a real pleasure. At heart, I don’t really care if you smoke, when you smoke, how much you smoke. That’s your deal. If you are reading your own book, blow the smoke deep into all the pages. It’s your book, knock yourself out.
But it’s really not all that fun to open a library book and get blasted with your odor. There is no airing those things out, you know.
And finally…if you have the temerity to MARK in a library book with a pencil or heaven freaking forbid, a ballpoint PEN, I will hold a deep and abiding grudge against you for life. It doesn’t matter that I’ll never know it was you who did it…I’ll hold a grudge anyway.
I’m sure you’ll be quite busy being the greeting committee in hell for all those page folders.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to pull my pantalones out of my behind, smooth and straighten my clothes, and walk down to my gate. It appears my flight is boarding.
Don’t EVEN get me started on people who use their roller bags to block my egress while in line to get on the plane. These “open seating” flights bring out the very worst in people……..
