Library Chaos, a Murderer, and Spork Testing!

Chaos can be relative, but by library standards, the other day was full of it. This chaos began the moment I walked in the door while story time (non-drag-queen as usual) was wrapping up. I was peppered with questions before I could even properly punch in for the day.

Then, there was a steady trickle of returns and hold requests along with reference questions, checkouts, summer reading prize awards, and so forth. It was a busier-than-usual day, and we were short-staffed to boot.

If you know what the pictured product below is, you may already have some idea of another incident which struck in the middle of everything else.

One of our regular patrons has a raft of kids, and on this occasion, she brought one of her teenage daughters and her youngest toddler. In the midst of everything else, the daughter approached me with a slight air of embarrassment to say her little brother had wet himself on the carpet in our children section by the board books shelves. While she took the restroom key to clean up the lad, I took one of these bags of absorbent mixture to clean up the floor.

This stuff is a mix of sawdust, clay pellets (cat litter, basically), fragrance, odor eliminators, and who knows what all else for feces, vomit, urine, and other messes. It works well.

I poured a layer on the carpet, and then went back to work. After a while, I remembered I needed to still attend to that corner of the building, so I got a broom and dust pan to sweep the bulk off the carpet. The first treatment worked remarkably well, but there was still more wetness. I reapplied the powdery mixture a second time, went to work again on mundane tasks again, and on return decided to vacuum what was left after sweeping the damp product. There were still slight signs of wet carpet, so a third application was attempted. This seemed to do the job. Spot-cleaning with carpet cleaner spray should finish cleanup as well as can be hoped.

We also sometimes get reference questions over the phone. Apparently we are the local information desk for folks with no internet access at home. While juggling the aforementioned chaos, I also got a call from a someone who wanted to know when Betty Lou Beets died and how old she was at the time. I sure hope the old lady who called isn't a copycat killer weighing her risks...

During a break, I decided to field test the Ka-Bar spork I recently reviewed while eating my Tasty Bite Chickpeas and Rice Bowl snack.

This is not too bad as pre-fab food goes, but it certainly isn't something I'd recommend as an authentic Indian cuisine experience. There's a sealed bowl of brown rice, a packet of sauce, and its own spork all nearly contained in a convenient cardboard box, though.

The instructions say to peel back the plastic on the rice bowl halfway, pour in the sauce packet, cover the rice, and microwave for 90 seconds on high. It's a bit wasteful, but convenient, and relatively healthy.

The Ka-Bar is definitely a more confidence-inspiring utensil. It feels sturdy despite the loose connection between its haves. As I said in my review, the bowl in the spork is remarkably deep. It's almost too deep, in fact. There's just something awkward about the shape. It sure scooped up rice and chickpeas though.

I didn't need the concealed knife, but I had to take apart the handle for cleaning anyway. Sauce worked its way into the drain holes by the spork. It rinsed out easily, but water shot surprisingly far from the front and back when I held it under the faucet with the stream flowing down into the handle.

I still don't think this is a good part of a survival kit, but it might be useful camping gear. Despite the absurd styling, it is actually a spork people think is cool. Surely that counts for something!