The Day I Was Shunned at the Library

Picture it...Georgia...February 14, 2013...(because let's face it, all good stories start like this!)

It's Valentine's Day and I'm single.  All I want to do is go to the library, find a good book, go home and read with a bottle glass of wine.  But apparently, that was too much to ask for.  

I work 6 miles away from home, which in my neck of the woods is just about unheard of.  On about mile 3 of the trek, there is a HUGE library that I was itching to go to.  A friend had recommended a book that I thought I could sink my teeth into, so I stop on my way home from work, list in hand.  As I walk through the doors, the smell of books hits me like a train...I'm in heaven.  I peruse the shelves for about 30 minutes, finally deciding on 3 books and make my way to the circulation desk where the following conversation ensues:

Me: Hi, I'd like to check these books out, please.

Mr. Librarian: Oh, sure thing.  You'll need to come around to the other side of the desk.

Me: {as I approach the other side} Oh, I also need to get a library card.

Mr. L: Shoot!  I'm so sorry, but you'll have to come back to the other side for that!

Me: No problem {make my way back to the other side and sit down}

Mr. L: Ok, I'll just need you to fill this out and I'll need to see something with your address on it.

Me: Ummm {frantically rumaging through the pit of despair my purse} OH!  Here's a bill with my address.  Will this work?

Mr. L: {suddenly gets a look on his face like he has smelled something rotten...} Ummmmmm....A-man-da?

Me: Yes?

Mr. L: Yeah, you live in the city of M.

Me: Yes, I do.

Mr. L: Well, this is the City of S Library...

Me: Ok...

Mr. L: Um, you have to actually be a resident of the City of S to get a card here.

**Let me take a moment to just remind you that this library is literally 3 miles away from my house.  Let me also say that when I am at my house and post something on Facebook, if I am upstairs, it posts as the City of S and downstairs is the city of M.  Oh, and let's not forget that they are in the same county.  But I digress...

Me: Really?  I live 3 miles away from here.  *I wanted to add that it was ok for him to talk to me like a normal human being and not like he was going to catch some infectious disease because I lived in M.  But alas, these are things that we think but do not say.

Mr. L: Yeah, well, you have to live in the City of S to get a free card here.

Me: Oh, ok...well, how much is a card?  

Mr. L: Yeah, it's $40 a month.  Or you can choose one of these libraries and get a free card {hands me a list of libraries in M with as little of his fingers actually touching the paper as possible}

Me:  I'll take the list...here are the books.

And there you have it...the day I was shunned at the library.  Sigh...