Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Alternis sermonibus...

Had a girl come into work the other day and the first thing out of her mouth was "You have to help me," stated blandly, as an order.
"Ok...? What can I do for you?" I asked. Technically it is my job to assist people like her. Thus prompted, and without making eye contact, she continues.
"There's a journal article I need that apparently only you guys have."
"Alright?... ... ...What journal is it?"
"I don't remember the name. I have the author and the volume and page number." Well alrighty then, I guessed I'd do my best. Try to wheedle something else out of her to go on.
"Ok, can you remember anything of the name of the journal or the article?" I inquired, stepping up to the challenge.
"Can't you just look it up with what I gave you?" she demands, aimlessly fiddling with my pen.
"Well, no, not really. A bit more information would be good."
"I think it was "veterinary medical" something...", says she. Well yes, if I were cold reading you, that would have been my first guess as well...
"The Journal of Veterinary Medical Education?", says I.
"No."
"The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association?"
"No."
"The Journal of Veterinary Medical Sciences?"
"Yes. That's it."
"Good!" How I love success.
"That's what I was going to say but I thought it was wrong."
"Alright, well we do have that journal, and since you know the volume you need, it shouldn't be a problem to find."
"Well that's good because I'm just so sick of all the trouble I have to go through every time I need to find something in a journal!"
Yeah... That sure sucks.

3 comments:

Paul Kuliniewicz said...

It would have been kind of funny if there were several dozen journals with the phrase "Veterinary Medical" in the title.

Funny for me, at least. Probably not for you.

Renee L. said...

Yeah, there kind of are... But I'm good at guessing, remember? ;)

Anonymous said...

sounds tooooo much like legal work aaaaaaahhhhhh
mean old mammy