My first official complaint

Yesterday, I got my first official complaint from a customer. I'm sure it was a long time coming...I am pretty short with people between the hours of 8am and 10am, especially. And I can only hear the words, "Can't I just say it was expired and get it for free?" so many times in one day before my brains explode. I am not always as friendly as I could be with people. Sometimes you just have to let your tone of voice and demeanor tell people you mean business. On the other hand, I've had more than one of my "regulars" say that they go out of their way to come to Eigenmann because I'm so much nicer than the lady at the union. (Yes, there are people who lose their IDs so often that they know me, know the lady at the union, can tell us apart, and have had enough interactions with each of us to know that one of us is nicer than the other.) At the very least, I try to be professional even when I can't always be pleasant.

So this joker comes in and he has punched a hole through his ID card with a pretty standard issue paper-punch hole puncher. Kids do this all the time and it's not a big deal. This particular student, however, had punched the hole through his bar code number and part of the bar code. Let me re-iterate this point, because it is significant and seemed to be lost on the student. HE PUNCHED A HOLE IN HIS ID CARD-HE PUNCHED A HOLE THROUGH THE BAR CODE NUMBER AND PART OF THE BAR CODE. He came to the counter to ask if I would read off his bar code number so that he can use it to gain access to online articles. Whatever. We can't give out any information to cardholders about their card. As out director is fond of saying, "We're in the card distribution business. NOT the information distribution business." We don't give out any information to anyone. No ID numbers. No expiration dates over the phone. No card numbers. Nothing. Never. To anyone. That's just how we roll.

So, I tell the kid we don't give that information out, so he has two choices. He can see if the library will give him the numbers he's looking for, or he can buy a new card for $5. He starts going on and on about how I should just give him the information. Obviously, it's his card and he's asking for the info. What reason could I possibly have to deny him access to his own information. I tell him it's just our policy. He won't accept that and tries to state his case again. I rattle off our director's motto. But that doesn't make any sense, he says. We go round and round like that for about 5 minutes and finally, I've had enough.

"Listen," I tell him. "This is not up for discussion. We don't give out that kind of information. Now, you can either contact someone at the library or you can buy a new card."

Apparently the tone of my voice told him that he had reached the end of my patience because he threw his ID down on the counter and mumbled, "fine." He filled out the form, filled out the computer info, I printed out his card and off he went. Later that day I received the following in our departmental e-mail account:

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is and I am an undergraduate here at Indiana University. Unfortunately I have just returned from a very unpleasant experience with one of your staff members at the Eigenmann location. I came in looking to find out the first 4 digits of my Library code number located on the left hand side of the card directly above the bar code (for the purpose of obtaining full-text journals by e-mail from the library for use on an upcoming research paper). This seemed to be a huge problem since the woman "is not allowed to give out that kind of information". It seems odd to me that something as trivial as a library code (that is on the campus access card to begin with!!) would be considered classified information. She then proceeded to tell me that my only option was to buy a new card since my card was considered "damaged". Upon a quick Google search of the word Damaged, I found a common definition to be "broken, not working". I tried to explain to the woman how surely my card was not "damaged", it was still completely functional since the bar code and swipe strip were completely unobstructed. The card simply had a hole-punch through the numbers that I was trying to retrieve so that I was able to put it on my key chain. She rudely informed me that there was no discussion about it and i needed to buy a new card. Thus, I was forced to pay to replace something that was not broken (a synonym of damaged) in the first place! The entire experience has left a bad taste in my mouth and has been displeasing to say the least. Your sales associate had every opportunity to show me proof that my only option was to buy a new card, or even that my card was considered damaged. I sincerely hope that this letter makes it into the right hands.

If you have any questions you can contact me at douchebag @ so-and-so .edu. I am hopeful
that this matter does not go unacknowledged.

So, apparently he had to google the word damaged. WTF? I think that if you punch a friggin hole through your friggin card and alter it to such an extent that it is no longer functional, IT'S FRIGGIN DAMAGED!! And it was only $5. I know times are tough, but c'mon!

Blerg.