Tales of a Librarian [part ii]

Continued from part i

The librarians were gathered around two pushed-together tables on the patio at Gordon Biersch looking very much like, well, like librarians.

I've been out drinking with the science profs, and they all have a sort of earthy, outdoorsy look to them. Business school profs wear suits; computer science geeks look like geeks (and are some of my best friends), but I'd never been in close proximity to a pack of librarians before, and so hadn't learned the stereotype.

Now that I know what it is, I struggle to put it kindly.

Hmn. Let's see. The group of Kapp's co-workers I met at Gordon Biersch were... not exactly stylish. Not so much chic. They had, shall we say, some sartorial challenges. And a singular unkemptness in the hair department.

They were frumpy.

But they have good qualities, not the least of which is, they can drink. And not fruity girly drinks, either. The waiter was carrying an astonishing number of pint glasses on a tray, and when Kapp and I joined the party he took our beer orders and immediately returned with two more. Introductions were made and I learned that not all the librarians were librarians. Some were assistant librarians and some were reference librarians and some were library assistants and some were from the I.T. department and so weren't librarians at all. I realized that I understand the academic hierarchy only as it applies to professors, but I was given the impression, from the pack at the table, that Kapp was fairly high up on their library ladder.

Kapp introduced me as "My friend Sass, from Marketing," which wasn't entirely accurate but was close enough, and for a time they eyed me the way tourists eye an exotic giraffe at a zoo, but then judged me acceptable company because of my acquaintance with Kapp. Plus, I made them laugh by gently poking fun at him, which may have been the reason Margaret got the wrong idea about us.

We had two, or maybe it was three, rounds, and then Kapp asked me what time it was, because he never wears a watch, and when I told him 9:15 he said he was going to try to catch the 9:20 bus, even though the last one is at 11:00. I offered to buy him a beer if he stayed and when that didn't work I called him a girl but since he'd already been called that once tonight, that didn't work either, and so he left.

I said, oh well, and pulled my chair closer to the others, beside Margaret. I learned that she's been working at the library for almost ten years and that she's studying library science and is almost, but not quite, a real librarian. We were both drinking Märzen, which may have been another factor in the prodigious hangover that was to come. Margaret asked me where I was from, and made a joke about me saying eh, and then she said, "It really surprised me when Kapp left so suddenly."

What I was thinking was, he'll very likely miss that bus and then he'll be back, it's happened before, but what I said was, "Oh, he has that bus schedule memorized, and he knows exactly when he has to leave so he can catch it. Why did that surprise you?"

"That he left you here, I mean," she said.

"Oh! Oh no, no, we're just friends, we just hang out and drink beer."

"Mnm Hmn," Margaret hmned, unconvincingly.

We ordered another round.

"I really like you," gushed Margaret, "I'm going to invite you to my next girl party. We cook and eat and read Tarot cards. You should watch out for Kapp, though."

"Watch out?"

"He's a good guy. Really smart. I love him like a brother. But he sleeps around."

To be continued in part iii.