There I was, minding my own business in the library office, when I saw him stroll in. Well, stroll is a bit of an exaggeration. He is old, and his stride was more of a hobble. At any rate, he locked his gimlet eyes on me and waved me out to the front desk for a chat.
He handed me a folded bit of notepaper upon which were details for a used automobile he wished to purchase. The handwriting was clearly not his. It was quite nice, in fact. He wanted me to find the phone number for the person listed as the seller of the car.
Nothing as sleek as this. Image credit
My first attempt was looking up the seller in the phone book. Yes, we still have one. No, he wasn't listed. Next up: some Google-Fu. Despite the odd name, there were several possibilities. It wasn't until this point I began asking where the information was found. Perhaps I needed to check the newspaper classifieds or Craigslist? After some conversation at sufficient volume for him to hear me, and the entire town to hear him, I learned that this information was from a Facebook listing.
Obviously, some friend or family member had given him the note. I logged onto FaceSpook and tried to find the listing. I had Shouty write down his full name and phone number for me to pass along. As I suspected, it was standard-issue old man scrawl. I dutifully sent a note to the seller, and we'll see whether anything comes of this odd episode.
Being a librarian is weird.