I have had a very interesting day!

I have been visiting the local Family History Library of late. I have been enjoying my visits and chatting with the staff about the information I have found in the primary records and on the Internet. I take my computer with me to enter information as I find it. I have not seen any other visitors toting computers, but they seem to be acceptable.

Apparently, I have made an impression on the staff there or perhaps just the opposite. Let me explain.

I am accessing the Ontario Vital Statistics films at that library. Being a creature of habit, I schedule a machine for Tuesdays. This works well as I schedule a particular machine to view the film until closing time at 1 p.m. Everything was going just fine until I had to schedule for a Wednesday for the same period. Oblivious to context, I sat at the machine last Wednesday peering at the difficult handwriting and enjoying myself immensely. I assumed, wrongly, that the library hours of operation were the same as for Tuesdays. Because I assumed this, I also assumed I would be made aware when closing time approached.

To my great surprise, a man tapped me on the shoulder and told me he had booked the machine I was using. I did not look at the clock, for if I had I would have seen that it was past 1:00 p.m. and realized my mistake.

Instead, I said, "Surely not, I am sure I booked this machine."

Once in front of the schedule book I finally caught sight of the clock and realized my mistake. It was 1:15 p.m. and the man had waited patiently for 15 minutes thinking I was just finishing up.

I apologized profusely as I gathered my computer and bits of paper and removed the film I was working on. Within 60 seconds, I had vacated the workspace for him. He was unhappy. I cannot blame him for being unhappy.

Well, we all make mistakes and mine was an honest one.

Today I was back at the library on a Tuesday and confident of being asked to pack up at the appropriate time. As I sat at my computer typing in information, I heard very loud whispering directly behind me. The two librarians, they are volunteers, were loudly whispering about "that woman" who did not vacate the machine last week. The assumption behind their conversation was that "she" had willfully ignored the gentleman's claim. There was no generous "benefit of the doubt" here, oh my no. They harbored no doubts about "that woman's" character.

"Some people are just so enthusiastic," they said. It did not sound complimentary.

Well, I thought to myself, if you knew the man was waiting for the machine last week why did neither of you ask me to let him use the machine.

I suppose if they had assumed I was deliberately violating the schedule, they might also have assumed that if questioned I would exhibit "library rage". I guess women of a certain age might be considered very dangerous in these kinds of situations.

To enhance my visit the librarian, who I had chatted with last week about Internet research, came over to warn me that I should photocopy everything I used as a reference to "prove" my data. He warned me that I must "prove" my entries and not rely on information over the Internet. That seemed like sound advice. Alas, more was to come, the advice was meant only to introduce his final statement.

"We had 'a woman' in here last week with a computer," he paused with obvious condescension and a touch of cattiness, "who got a whole lot of information on her English ancestors over the Internet. You can't rely on anything without proof!"

He was referring to our conversation last week! The subject matter was the same, the computer was the same, what I had said had been interpreted incorrectly and enhanced considerably by false assumption.

I looked at him with an amused smile and said, "Really!"

Perhaps he was senile and did not recognize me from our conversation last week? That whispered conversation directly behind my back was just a coincidence?

I will never know. By tomorrow, I will not care. Next Tuesday I will be back at the library having the time of my life.

I wonder how "library rage" works.