Rude behaviour in the Vancouver Public Library

by Lara Smith on August 1st, 2015 at 11:49 AM

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The other evening, I was at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch.

A scooter-bound elderly woman and the librarian were having a nice little chat when they were rudely interrupted by a man.

He said in a booming voice, "This is the library. Your conversation is disturbing."

Or something to that effect.

The two women appeared immediately embarrassed and ceased talking.

I actually wanted to defend them. Where is this man's manners? He had no business to shout at them and humiliate them.

The library patron was an old woman in a scooter and what's wrong with a little conversation?

They weren't harming anybody. Isn't Vancouver isolated enough?

In other cities, this is normal behaviour.

I've noticed an increase in rudeness in the library.

A few weeks ago, a disgruntled cyclist hissed and give me a little side swipe because she wanted to grab a DVD.

She could have come next to me and taken it. I wasn't really blocking her view.

In another instance, I was searching for a Henry James DVD. A crazy Thomas Pynchon fan muttering "Thomas Pynchon, Thomas Pynchon" was standing right in front of the DVD. He saw me but he wouldn't get out of the way.

Another time, I had a lady breathing down my neck where I could smell her lunch. She was looking for novels as I was. But why the hell was she clinging to me?

I prefer conversations and being asked to move instead of side swipes and sign language.

The library is a public space and should be respected for all that it is. What's the point of calling yourself community-minded if you forget your manners in the library?

My definition of a community-minded person is someone who interacts politely and nicely with the community every day!

Maybe that should be a New Year's resolution for a lot of us.

Comments

11 Comments

Hah

Aug 1, 2015 at 12:42pm

Wow, somebody doesn't really have anything to worry about do they? Talking loud enough in the library to disturb other people is rude.

Hubert Schanaemacher

Aug 1, 2015 at 1:24pm

Someone acted rudely in public. It's like reading a newspaper from 1890. If you really want to cover a scandal, I heard that somebody well-connected is getting a divorce!

Slice of Life

Aug 1, 2015 at 2:03pm

I think the point of this article isn't that we should feel scandalised. What I got from reading this is that people are not only less considerate of those around them, but that they are even less AWARE that other people exist and that they have to SHARE the community and its resources. People are becoming more than just individualistic, more than just selfish: they are practically solipsist in their daily lives.

Good article.

Kudos

Aug 1, 2015 at 4:08pm

We need more of this sort of reporting from the GS. Did someone cut in line at Whole Foods? We need a crack GS reporter there to let us know. Is some foppish dandy disregarding the local constabulary? We need to know. Keep up the good work! In all honesty, I prefer pieces like this to drab nonsense about feminism...

Arachides

Aug 1, 2015 at 5:12pm

Rudeness and bad attitudes on the Westside, say it isn't so.

Barry William Teske

Aug 1, 2015 at 6:46pm

Yet a other dot in the influential world of 'Confrontational Politics'.
It is costing us all more than we realize.

oh fer

Aug 1, 2015 at 10:11pm

If I don't agree with you, you're rude.
If I agree with you, you're a pleasant sort.

It's been ever thus.

Gravity's Rambo

Aug 2, 2015 at 7:58am

Seriously, something needs to be done about these crazed Thomas Pynchon fans wandering about, intentionally obscuring the way for stalwart Jamesians. What's next, lunatic Nabokovites barring the way to Melville?