I work at a public place and had a man come in and ask for something extremely bizarre. Something that was contradicting.. Let me just tell you in order for this to make sense.

I work in the children's area of a Library. This man.. is alone without a child.. First sign.

He is extremely groomed. I mean every hair is in "place." No blemishes. Very odd. Second sign.

He is asking for a child's book so HE can read it. He says he hasn't read in a while and needs large print also... weird that an adult that looks intelligent and well-off wants to "start reading again." Third Sign.

I show him some LP(large print) books and seems to be unhappy with them. I then show him other books that aren't LP and he seems to completely forget about the LP... WTF! If you need LP then you need LP, if you don't, you don't. Fourth Sign.(contradicting himself)

THIS GUY IS ASKING FOR A FUCKING MURDER MYSTERY OR HORROR BOOK IN THE MUTHA FUCKING CHILDRENS AREA WITH NO KIDS...FOR FUCKS SAKE.

Lastly, he asks me to just show him the books I know of that are mystery for children. I show him and there is one other series that I *could* show him, but, it is further back in the library where no one is and no one can see us..

He asks me to go..


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU





WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT HELLLLLLLLLL NOOOO..

I say "if you want to go look at them.. go look, do you understand what I'm saying?"

I think he got my drift.

This man scared the hell out of me..

I asked my trusted co-worker/friend about this man. She encountered him some also, she couldn't be around him any longer: this is why I was helping him. ( I am the only guy really that works in the children's area)

She said that she wouldn't doubt that he is on the level of a serial killer or human cannibal.

Wow, you can see how this has scared me and effected me in a negative way.

Had to write this up. Don't care if you read it.

Take care.

Yikes. Truly odd.

This might be a nonfunctional adult who lives with his mom. But you can only speculate.

I went to high school with this guy who ended up running his dad's insurance company: well groomed, almost overly presentable. Then he ended up in prison (for extremely stupid but basically harmless behavior) but every other inmate in the block assumed he was there for child- related crimes because of his appearance. Funny how that works.

Yea, maybe I got scared for no reason.. I just had that vibe..

Maybe he needed genuine help.. I guess you can't help everyone.

Maybe he read a particular book when he was a child that had a big impact on him and he was trying to find it in order to reminisce. i.e.: Maybe he was looking for his favorite childhood book. I can imagine someone wanting to do that.

Not saying it wasn't creepy, just that there are other explanations.

Maybe, usually when a person wants to do that they will say something like " there was an old book I read" thinking because you are the librarian that you have a whole library of books in your head that you know back to front.

I doubt that's what it was. Wish you coulda stood in those shelves with him o.o

"People are strange,
when you're a stranger,
faces look ugly
when you're alone."

Very judgmental post. What are you so afraid of? Some people are just different. BTW 'then' should be 'than' in your signature. Have a spooky day.

Signed,
The man you are so afraid of

Fear or intuition? We may never know.

Both, they in tangle each other dangerously ;]

Thanks for the grammar check on my sig! hehe

Agreed with house, this seems excessively judgemental.

Most times people arent nearly as harmful as they appear to be to the untrained mind. Maybe he just is not a good reader and couldnt make up his mind what he wanted to read? Try looking at people in a different light first before judging them is what I would recommend. Listen to what they have to say instead of basing your thoughts on appearance. I find it good practice to not judge until I learn more about someone. Who knows? Maybe he was a deranged person seeking evil, though it seems unlikely and that one would be in a library, much less intent upon harming anyone there.

Oh ya. Anyways what I originally clicked on the topic for, individuals that scare you.. Marilyn Manson now that guy is creepy imho.

I have found that the more radical an individual looks in the way of piercings and tattoos the more fluffy they are, more often than not. Although i have been chased round a festival by a drunken, psychopathic,tattooed anarko punk and his dog, following a misunderstanding.
As for the "dodgy" man in the library its best not to jump to conclusions you might regret.

A cautionary tale

http://www.independent.c...aediatrician-710864.html

See, it's human nature to be afraid and judge. There was a vibe; my body was reacting to the vibe. E'nuff Said!

For argument's sake -

So if I feel unsafe - regardless of the appearance of a person - I should ignore that feeling?

I'm trying to avoid being judgmental.

Running away is the quintessential, non-violent, self-preservational human response. One must judge whether one is in danger and respond accordingly.

Whether it's an angry bear running towards me or a well-dressed, cosmopolitan-looking man, I will make a judgement as to the threat I perceive and then respond with action of some sort.

I agree that one cannot necessarily judge a book by the cover. But I also know I've read a lot of books where the cover did the story inside justice.

Perhaps responses like DeDao's are not so easily categorized as wholly judgmental? Is this an unfair question to ask?

Pup explained it way better then I could have!

You did nothing wrond dao,

Always follow your gut, I think its silly for posters to call you judmental, they are in fact being judgmental cause they weren't in your shoes.

Who's to say the individual in question isn't psychotic and dangerous? I don't see why just because we are dmt users
Some seem to automatically embrace any weird or rebeliios notion,

That goes against human instinct don't be blinded by your non-judgmental aspirations, sometimes we must take stock of the situation and make our own conclusions

Thanks bud!

I cannot see that thinking that perhaps the individual in question might just be socially inept and have communication problems as being a weird or rebellious notion.
I have gut feelings, sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. It all depends what actions follow after these feelings that i worry about.
Some people get unfairly branded because they are a bit odd.
I"m not saying this about you Dao cos i was"nt there and you are entitled to your opinions and gut feelings , just putting my thoughts across. (unless you followed him home on the quiet and beat him senseless on the strength of these feelings- then i disapprove )

I've encountered these types and the whole "go with your gut" thing rings out to me as good advice. If you get that bad of a vibe from this guy then just try to be as helpful as possible without making yourself too uncomfortable. He may be harmless, or he may not.

The bottom line is that you can't live your life afraid of everyone, but you also need to be cautious and be aware of your surroundings. I'd say as long as you do that then you should be relatively safe in a public place like that. If you are truly concerned for your safety and the safety of others at the library then perhaps you should speak with your management as they may know more about this guy and can notify authorities if he is doing anything that is jeapordizing the safety of the other librarians/visitors.

Don't let an unfounded fear cloud your judgement, but always think about the safety of you and your library patrons. Especially the kids. With all of the psycho's going into public places and shooting them up it is always good to be aware of your surroundings and follow your intuition.

Perhaps the man is just developmentally challenged in some way.

Crap * hides body *

Ha! I knew you"d done away with him! My gut told me!

Being judgemental can save one's life. Perhaps the man was harmless. Perhaps he wasn't?

OP, I find it helpful to just ask the person to explain themselves in situations like that, especially if there are contradictory statements and actions about, if they continue to contradict or confuse facts, well, "ain't nobody got time for dat."

There's nothing wrong with being judgemental, that's all a human has when intuition fails to decipher a situation adequately and without prejudice.