I went out Saturday night. My friend Lisa introduced me to some of her friends. My step-sister and two of her friends came out to the bar. They enjoyed the queens and danced afterward.
The bar's home queen, Kelli, usually torments one woman in the crowd and pulls up her shirt and exposes her breasts to the crowd.
I had been teasing the girls about handing one of the queens a dollar but they were too shy (to my surprise.) I had already done it once for their amusement.
True to form, Kelli had a young woman before the crowd. He had done the deed and was standing there teasing her. I slipped in around behind him and reached out to put a dollar in the woman's bra.
The crowd cheered and Kelli slapped me.
(I just want to point out that I was absolutely sober.)
I probably wouldn't have done it, but I think I wanted to show my little sister that I have some mischief in me....
I have not finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince but yesterday at work I was looking at a review of the book on Wikipedia. I jumped ahead and did not see the caveat "spoiler warning." I only glimpsed the plot summary but it was enough to ruin the suspense.
I shook my head in chagrin. Maureen asked what was wrong. I told her I had just seen what happened and who was who and who gets killed and I couldn't believe I'd just spoiled it for myself.
The librarians I work with, for the most part, don't know the names of the regular customers unless they've had some kind of dealing with them that has made them memorable.
There are several people that I have served for years but am not really conscious of their names because they usually just check out and return things and don't fuss.
But there are times when I decide that I will know a patron by sight. (And other times when I think it is important to remember who they are as they leave.) So I have learned to identify people in much the same way as you learn to identify birds.
I notice their features and if necessary, use a mnemonic device. For instance, there is a Mrs. Sanders. Her skin is very pink. She reminds me of Piglet for all her pinkness. Winnie-the-Pooh's house said "Mr. Sanders" on it. I see her Piglet face, I remember... Mrs.Sanders.
There is another man and he is old and scruffy, but he has laugh lines about his eyes. He's kind when he asks for help. I know his name, too, from his library card. I also know, from his address, that though he doesn't appear to be fancy, he is a millionaire.
I remember people from there features. If you pick up a good birding book, it will show you to look at the eyes, the beak, the neck, the breast, the wing, the feet of a bird, and to notice the markings and how they differ.
Sometimes though, it takes a few visits to put the traits together with the name. And there are aptrons who look alike or similar to each other and I can confuse them.
For example, there are two medium-length haired brunettes with olive skin and thick lips who are loud. I tried to give one the other's hold item yesterday. Oops! Totally different names.
After a while, you get to know and love people. I have patrons ask me to dinner, wanting to adopt me, giving me drawings they did, trying to fix me up with their nephews, treating me like a celebrity when they see me out somewhere in public. Fer cornsake, all I do is check out their books!
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