Everyone is always surprised when I hurt myself at my job. Libraries seem like a safe place, besides the occasional paper cut, right? But it's just the opposite. I'm constantly dodging falling books, and sometimes the shelves jump out and bite.
Well, not really.
But one time, I was putting away books and I snagged my finger on a loose screw sticking out of the shelf. It didn't seem like a big deal until I noticed I was bleeding. A lot. It had ripped quite a bit of skin out of place. I was walking back to see if we had band aids anywhere, and that volunteer guy who asked me out on a date (before that happened though) saw me and asked what was wrong so I showed him. He said "Wow. How did you do that? Was it from punching that guy?" (This was an allusion to the old man with the horrible joke, which I still have yet to tell...)
Just recently, I had another shelf attack. I bumped my finger but then noticed it hurt a lot more than if I had actually just bumped it. I looked closer and realized there was a paint chip from the shelf jammed under my fingernail. How did that happen? I didn't even care. I just wanted it OUT OF THERE. I tried not to run over to the circulation counter, and had to wait for what seemed like forever for one of my coworkers to be free. I had no idea where to find some tweezers, because that was the only thing that was going to get it out. Then when they finally were able to pay attention to me, they stood around discussing the possible options and came back to me with giant scissor looking things. There was no way I was trying to get this tiny paint chip shoved in such a sensitive spot with those monstrosities. Finally, I got my hands on some tweezers and had it out in a few seconds.
This just goes to show you that the library is anything but safe.
And I wasn't kidding about dodging falling books. It seriously does happen.
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