Aggravated irritation

[altivo]

On Wednesday evening we had what should have been a minor incident at the library. Two teen girls came in and were being obnoxious and loud in general and seemed to be itching for some sort of fight. Then they went over to the internet stations and tried to log on. They came back and one complained that the system was rejecting her account. Our retired director still works with me on Wednesday, and she was at the desk. She looked up the account and explained that the girl owed fines of more than $5 and therefore her access was blocked. She had to pay enough to get the balance below $5 before she could log in. Well she didn't like that and the two of them went off and had some sort of conference in the restroom. Then they came back and paid the minimum amount to get the access unblocked. It was less than $3.

They both went over and sat down, and logged onto two stations. Then we discovered that they had both logged on using the same ID number. This is against the rules, but it works if you time it right as the tracking system is distributed among multiple machines and takes a while to catch on. When it does figure it out, it reduces the available time on both sessions but doesn't log them off. So, retired boss went over and told the girls they were violating the usage agreement and would have to log out. Of course they didn't like that either, but a few minutes later they were off. Then they came back to the desk and wanted the money they had paid back. She told them no, that the money was owed to the library and they couldn't have it back. They left after that.

This sort of thing happens occasionally, and I sometimes wonder if there will be further repercussions. This time there were. The next day, our former director found that her car had been "keyed" in the dark parking lot. The damage was extensive, on the passenger side, roof, and trunk lid, where she didn't notice it when she got in the car to leave after we closed. There were insulting and obscene remarks written in the scratches. She has a license plate that connects her with "books" so she figured they knew it was her car from that. Filed a police report, called her insurance, got an estimate for repairs which will apparently be over $2000. Fortunately her insurance will cover it, with only a $50 deductible. She came in this morning to get the security camera images for the police, and asked if I had checked my car. I hadn't, but didn't think it was damaged even though we were parked next to each other. However, when I left for the day I found two similar long scratches on the tailgate that had not been there before. These were almost certainly done at the same time. Now I'll have to go through the same process to get them fixed, and I'm sure my deductible is much larger.

New director seemed to want to blame it on the computer systems for allowing the simultaneous logins. I tried to explain to her that this is normal for that kind of system but she wasn't having it. I think she often seems to be eager to blame any difficulties on Linux because she wants everything changed back to Windows. I also think that those two users had a "chip on their shoulder" and might well have done the same thing anyway even if it had been the system that denied them access rather than a staff member. They were hostile and abrasive throughout the whole time they were in the library.

I'm getting really, really disgusted with the human race. Perhaps it really is time for us to destroy ourselves with pollution, warfare, or whatever, and let some other species clean up after us. This sort of behavior is simply inexcusable.

Comments

[hrrunka]

seemed to want to blame it

...as if the blame for vandalism could rest anywhere other than on the vandals themselves. Sheesh...

[altivo]

She tends to do this. Anything that doesn't work the way she thinks it should, no matter what the explanation, gets the comment "So it's a Linux problem."

She pretends to listen, but usually her mind is made up before she asks the question. That's something I have never been able to tolerate well. Past boss is a genuine listener who tries to understand.

[schnee]

A lot of people are like that, especially when it comes to computer systems. They have their preconceived notions about them, and nothing is gonna change them; anything bad will automatically be seen as a fatal flaw that damns the system in question to hell (even things that aren't the system's fault, and/or aren't flaws in the first place), whereas everything positive will be brushed off by saying that that's expected and thus no cause for praise.

Anyhow, that whole thing really sucks, obviously. Obnoxious users are bad enough, but vandalism... sheesh. At least there's the camera footage, though, and if they're also users, you'll have their names and all that, so it should be an easy enough case.

[altivo]

We have one name. Unfortunately, the security cameras do not see the parking lot. Only the entrances and the interior of the building. We have extensive video of them hassling the desk staff, and a shot of them leaving the building. Nothing that provides an unchallenged link between the two and the vandalism, though there really can be no question but that they were responsible.

[schnee]

*noddles* Might still be worth handing everything to the police and filing a report.

Alternatively, maybe check with a lawyer to see if there's any potential for recouping the costs in a civil suit (or without a suit). It's not as if the vandals know that they weren't caught on tape. :P (Whether that would meet the legal definition of blackmail, or whether it'd be an entirely acceptable use of the legal system, is something I'll leave up to the lawyers, too.)

[altivo]

We filed the reports. An officer was there yesterday and took the video record away with him. The thing is, they have much more serious crimes to deal with and this is a small town with a limited police force.

Civil suit would cost more than it could recover. The perpetrators don't have any money, and are likely transient as well so they would just disappear. If it actually went to court, conclusive proof linking them to the damage would be required. Even a judge will say that although it's perfectly clear that they are responsible, the law requires definite proof unless they admit to it.

[casey382]

Hopefully your deduction won't be the full amount as this wasn't a collision.
Keep us updated on the security camera's results, and the rest of this incident.

[altivo]

This comes under comprehensive rather than collision, and I do have coverage but I think the deductible is $200. Boss seems to think she can get the library board to pay the deductibles, which is in fact conceivable.

Now she wants us to quit using the staff parking area (behind the building) and park where the users do, in front. I'm afraid this will result in more parking lot scrapes and dings and won't necessarily prevent vandalism anyway. Also, since we have to exit through the loading dock doors in order to set the alarms at night, it means we'd then have to go around the building through the shrubbery in the dark to get to our cars, or else make a long (and potentially icy in winter) detour down the drive and through the lots to get there. This poses other security risks in my mind, and especially so for female staff (everyone but me.)

Harvard is getting to be a rough town, between illegal immigration and the rotten economy. A lot of gang activity, a lot of unemployment, a lot of idle teens some of whom are willing to prey upon the older population.

[treppenwolf]

I agree with your views on the future of the human race, but are you really so hopeful that our successors will turn out not to be the a**holes that we are/were? Selfishness is tailored into our behavior. Even if nature *did* come up with a society of purely altruistic individuals, all it would take was one random mutation, one self-serving prick coming out of nowhere, to corrupt that world and turn it into a semblance of ours.

Of course, I am but a mere youngster (who is one year older today - yay), so I submit to your wisdom, O Grey-maned One. The range of my knowledge is not yet as broad as I hope it to be.

[altivo]

Your knowledge is fine. I am most impressed with both what you have in store already and your willingness to acquire more. Truly, it's a privilege to have run into you in the vast wastelands out there.

What you say is true. But if there is no hope at all, how shall we go on? You touch here on the core of my own writing, the idea that keeps expressing itself in dozens of characters and in myriad ways and ideas. There will always be those who can see no farther than their own immediate wants and greed. This is true. But as long as there are enough who have more vision than that, more ability to plan and hope for something better, then there is yet light in the darkness.

This is probably a very Buddhist way of putting it, and I do often think in Buddhist paths. Pessimistic and dour as pure Buddhism may be, it nonetheless survives on the hope of something better and the belief that somehow it may yet be attained.