I regularly visit a building downtown that has televisions in the elevators. Have you seen these? They show an even-more-ADD-than-usual version of CNN, and they say in one corner of the screen, "You are watching the Captivate Network!"
The Captivate Network? Why not just go ahead and call it the "We Will Turn You Into Zombies With Our Shiny Screen And Mindless Advertisements Network"? I mean, I love television as much as anyone (more!), but god forbid anybody have a quiet moment in the elevator. Or be forced to make eye contact with a fellow passenger.
The dystopian future is now, peops!
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The tone of this blog has been a little bit grumpy these days, I notice. Let's take that frown and turn it upside down with a heartwarming library story, shall we?
As background I should tell you that the library I work in is very big, and very modern, and sometimes a little confusing to get around in.
So the other day I was crouching down in a heavy-traffic area to put up a poster, and a little tiny kid walked over to me, his dad in the background. Seriously, he was the tiniest kid of all time. You know how some little kids are roly-poly, and other, equally adorable ones, are more like tiny miniatures of adults? That was this kid.
Anyway, so I'm crouching down and when he walks over, I'm right at eye level with him. But he crouches down next to me anyway, puts his finger to his chin, and says thoughtfully, "I would like to ask you a question."
"Great! What's your question."
"I came here, with my kindergarten"--he wanted me to feel the prestige of it--"and we looked at some books.
Can you tell me where the books are?"
I'm not sure if the cuteness translates, but he just about knocked me out.
3 comments:
Those elevators!
I even hate how they play newscasts on tvs in airport waiting areas. Do I really need to see anxiety-inducing news stories when I am about to board a plane? Not a good time for that, people.
Aww...I love kids. Except when I hate them. But he sounds cute. I concur with the previous commenter on the airport tv's - airports are noisy and stressful places - the nonstop CNN-bites just make them more so. STOP THE TV INSANITY!!!!
Kids are cute, but something about putting them libraries ups their cute quotient by like, a thousand. I especially like the really thoughtful ones, like this fella.
I haven't been to the building with teevees in the elevator but I'm pretty sure I'd take the stairs if I ever encountered that - way too mind controlling and weird for me. Also I wouldn't put it past such people to say, make the elevator break every once in a while so you'd have to watch more of the frantic news. That would be my hell, to think of it - trapped in an elevator with a tv I couldn't turn off.
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