I need to be able to rely upon library staff to support me if and when a rogue patron enters the library and violates protocol.
On a Friday (December 2024)I was there in the afternoon working on my laptop while also waiting for a part to come in for my car to be repaired. I had been there for about 2 hours quietly minding my own business & working on one of my many projects on my laptop, when an Asian fellow entered the library, and decided he wanted to sit in the little pod that I was working in, where there was one available outlet, which I was using.
This fellow furtively looked around for another plug and I tried to be helpful telling him "The only other plug is behind the empty chair over here". It was two steps from where he was. instead of moving to this other chair, he asked if I could plug my laptop into the other outlet. It wasn't really a true ask of me, it was more like a demand or an expectation that I would comply with his request.
I was in the middle of uploading something on my laptop, and reiterated that he could just sit in the other chair so that he's closer to the other outlet. His response was, "I could... but I won't" . It was stated in a very arrogant tone as if it's not him that should be moving, it's you (me) who should get up immediately & change plugs.
While it would be nice of me to be a good chap or a nice helpful citizen to this patron, the way he was speaking to me was condescending, arrogant, & demanding. And so In my mind I was thinking if he won't compromise by very easily moving to a different chair two steps away, why should I compromise?
So I just kept working on my laptop and left my laptop plugged in where it was. A few seconds later he just grabbed my plug and pulled it out of the outlet and plugged his laptop in. It felt very violating like a slap in the face or like he pushed me out of my chair because he wanted my chair or something like that. That's the way it felt.
So I asked the young lady behind the kiosk to come over and she tried to assist but the Asian fellow (who calls himself Ken I found out later) refused to budge or apologize. He just sat there with a shameless glib look on his face.
So I asked to see the manager who came out few moments later & introduced herself as Mary and was very friendly and nice and tried to remain neutral at first as she learned the narration of what had happened. And Ken admitted that he pulled out my plug without my permission. She gently chastised him saying "You shouldn't touch other patron's possessions."
Meanwhile, maybe I wasn't clear enough or maybe I was being too nice about it so that it sounded like it was just an argument or difference of opinion, rather than an actual violation of my rights. Maybe if I had explained it better it would have turned out different but Mary turned into a moderator but didn't enforce a clear breach of protocol by Ken.
She just sort of waited and listened & tried to remain neutral but it didn't seem like it was going anywhere. So I decided if they're not going to kick him out for a clear violation against me, (ie or at least tell him to move or pull his plug back out so I can plug mine in), I'm too upset to stay here and continue to have my rights violated.
Once again, my feeling was almost as if he had pushed me out of my chair because he wanted my chair, and then library staff decided to tell me that there was plenty of chairs so don't worry about it.
My other feeling was that this person hated me. His actions toward me were intermixed with some kind of prejudice about me. This was also evidence by the way he talked to me during our conversation with Mary. Calling me "dude" etc.
I'm 57 years old, and I've achieved numerous various milestones in my life of which I am proud. And I continue to do constructive meaningful work that is good for society. I do not deserve to be mistreated or spoken to condescendingly.
And what makes him so special to speak 'down' to me? He looked like a bum. I also mentioned during the initial confrontation that if I had done this to him as a white person I would be instantly kicked out. That is to say it would be instantly assumed to be some sort of hate crime against him as an Asian. But if he does it to me it's just something that "needs to be worked out."
Manager Mary even offered to help me find a different spot. Maybe she meant well but that was another punch in the gut.
Once again let me reiterate that he expected me to jump up immediately and change my plug to a different outlet while refusing to easily move to another chair that's closer to the accessible outlet. And when I did not immediately jump out of my chair to do so, he became aggressive and just pulled my plug out and put his in.
And then the remedy seem to be that I should just move to a different spot. Do you see how that not only feels like a violation to me, but is a blatant violation.
I've been coming to this library long enough to know there's not that many confrontations or issues. People are usually pretty polite here. So it's a rarity I suppose when staff has to intervene with a rogue patron such as Ken. And they did not know how to immediately handle it. And Ken took advantage of that indecisiveness by the staff, while I took the brunt of the insults.
I I hope San Mateo library management takes this into consideration for further staff development .
