« Now Say Aaah... | Main | You Have Control »

October 12, 2005

paper products

According to the local police, a library worker's discovery of an X-Acto knife blade on the reading room floor near Mr. Smiley was the first hint of trouble. By early afternoon, they say, librarians had video images of Mr. Smiley removing from a book an antique map valued by Yale at $150,000. Later that day, the police say, they found in his jacket a fragile map that appeared to have been taken from a 17th-century book; others that also appeared to be stolen, worth more than $700,000, were in his briefcase.

See article from post gazette

What the ….you have got to be kidding me. This guy steals about $1 million in rare maps. He gets caught because he is sloppy. I think I am going to be sick. Why is it that I cannot go to a Barnes & Noble to get my IT fix without the store rent-a-cops running a mini-FBI sting on me? This includes tailing me then dropping off and having another one tail me (which is amusing since that only works if you are not wearing a uniform). They sandwich me in the stacks so that they are on either end of the aisle like they were going to stop me if I run. And my absolute favorite? Reorganizing the books near where I’m standing. (You’re a security guard; you and I both know that is not your job. There are less suspicious employees that do that.) Even if I was a thief and wanted to steal books the most I could smuggle out of the store would be about $200 worth of merchandise. I am watched like a hawk in Barnes & Noble because we all know that a black guy reading books about computers is just ludicrous. Now, if I was in the ghetto section (do they have one?) picking up a copy of the book Oh No He Did’n (not a typo), this would be fine. I guess I was in the wrong place. If I want to see the rare books worth $700,000 then I should go to the library so that I won't be shadowed…OK, who are we trying to kid? I would not even be allowed into a rare books section—well, maybe if I changed my name to a more pretentious-sounding one like E. Forbes Smiley III. Folks, never trust a man named Smiley.

Let’s cut to it. I know everybody has it one way or another, but bias is costly. Since I can only brew one pot at a time, book / library industry, this one is for you: It’s time to wake up and smell the distinct aroma of the shenanigans I have called on you. Black people can read. We can even comprehend the books without pictures.

And, no, I am not an angry black man--I have more of a cocoa complexion.

Posted by Kwaku at October 12, 2005 11:26 AM

Comments

Posted by: Dana at October 25, 2005 10:22 PM

---

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: