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Cogwork Librarian; [Trent, Ask first I guess?]
Topic Started: May 13 2016, 04:17 PM (489 Views)
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Monika Apologist

Haru either didn't read that Trent was being lazy or just didn't mind, just nodding eagerly and replying, "Yeah, no problem!" As Trent went behind the computer, Haru pushed the cart over to the place they had been told to. The cart wasn't particularly heavy and Haru wasn't particularly weak, but it was big and Haru was small, so they looked a bit unwieldy together. Regardless, Haru finished that task and then walked quickly on over to the desk. After a moment's notice, they stepped behind it next to Trent, glancing rapidly at all the things around them. "So this is what it's like on this side..."

Trent suggested making small talk, and Haru smiled. "Yeah, that's fine. I hope that - " Someone took that moment to show up with a book, and Haru couldn't withhold their excitement. "Look! Look, a person!" They whispered, offering the library visitor an extremely eager wave.
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theredarcana
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"Yeah, I know, I'm seeing him too. At least he just has one book with him..." Trent straightened his back. "Watch what I do. I'll let you handle the next one."

Once that exchange was done, the customer finally arrived at the desk. "Good afternoon, sir. May I help you?" For as much as the young man's tone was serious as always, there was a sort of polite, formal quality to his voice now. The way in which he could change his appearance and demeanor at the drop of a hat was somewhat uncanny.

Not too long after, the customer presented the book he was going to take outside the library. Trent requested both the book and the man's library card and, after inserting the number on the card into one of the fields of the program, another screen popped up. Several fields were on the new screen, but Trent went to a specific one of those and clicked on it, entering the number on the sticker on the book inside. A few clicks later, the new screen closed, and it seemed to be that the loan had been registered in the system.

"...and here you go." After that was done, Trent returned both the card and the book to the man, and said man left the library.

"It's... easy enough, I guess." It was. There isn't a whole lot to say here. "If one person tries to take out several books, you just insert all of the codes of the books one after the other in the second screen, where you saw me entering data. Separate them with a line break - just press enter. That's all, really."

Coincidentally enough, a lady was heading for the desk, holding three books. "This one's yours." With that, Trent stepped to a side slightly to let Haru do their job.
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Monika Apologist

Haru was watching Trent much more than they were watching the computer screen - their eyes flickered with interest as their friend's tone lowered a hair's breadth, his voice's cadence skipping a beat, becoming more polite, more refined. Haru blinked, but said nothing, waiting for Trent to finish his business with the customer. Once he had, and the man had walked out the door, Haru put their hands together and clapped quietly. "Wow! You sounded so professional, pruhc-toor-san!"

Trent then explained how to work the computer, to which Haru nodded their head and tried not to look confused. Honestly, they hadn't been watching the screen at all. They inserted the codes of the books into where? And separated them with what? They knew what pressing enter meant, at least. Before they could ask further, Trent had stepped aside and there was suddenly a lady at the desk.

Looking back at Trent, then at the lady, then back to Trent, then back again, Haru gulped. "Um!" They paused, considering how to follow up that extremely professional opening. Haru raised their hand and waved a touch too eagerly. "Hi! I'm Haru! Um..." They pointed at the books in the lady's hands. "B-books?" They turned to the computer and gave it an utterly lost look. "U-uh..."

It was possible Trent was supposed to step in.
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theredarcana
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The pale young man didn't really seem too proud of his performance, almost as though it didn't mean anything to him. "One gets used to employing that tone when you have to deal with people. It's nothing too amazing..."

Even though he wasn't too excited about the job or his performance in general, Trent was somewhat curious as to how Haru would do when dealing with the next client. He took a small step back when they waved enthusiastically at the woman and then proceeded to lock down completely.

Books indeed.

After that, Trent stepped in and took the woman's order, handling the order without too much difficulty. Once that was done, it didn't seem that they were going to get any more people for at least a few seconds.

He turned to Haru. "You... didn't really pay attention, did you." He didn't sound angry. In fact, it didn't seem like he cared a whole lot at all. Making sure that Haru was paying attention, the pale young man walked them through the process again until they got the basic gist of it.

After that was done, another customer walked by, holding entire handfuls of books with him - at least ten. Trent knew this person and he knew letting Haru handle him wasn't entirely a good idea. If they tried entering his library card into the system, it would all lock up and throw an error message that Haru didn't really know how to handle.

He wasn't entirely sure the error could come up, and he couldn't really say anything. With that, he remained silent...
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Monika Apologist

Haru was still in a bit of a daze once Trent finished up with the customer, flustered and embarrassed. They were a bit relieved that Trent didn't sound angry at all, but they didn't make any eye contact as they replied, "Eheh... sorry. I'm not very good with computers." They tried to pay better attention as Trent ran them through the process again, understanding it a bit better the second time around. "I-I'll get the next one, Pro-dog-san," they replied, still feeling a bit discombobulated.

There were a lot of books coming with the next customer, but Haru tried not to get intimidated as they took the man's card. After inserting the number into the computer, though, some kind of error message came up. "Eh?" They stopped, looked at the card, then looked back at the computer. Then they looked at Trent. "Um... I don't..."
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theredarcana
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"I know you will."

He knew they wouldn't.

He didn't let it show, but he just knew.

His small prophecy came true when the next client arrived and, indeed, Haru could not offer the service properly. However, against his expectations, it wasn't their fault - just as he'd suspected, the client standing in front of them was just as problematic as Trent thought he would be.

He, however, knew exactly what to do. "Step aside for a bit - I'll handle this." He didn't even bother reading the error message - after rapidly dismissing it, Trent pressed a series of keys combinations and inserted the client's ID once more. A different screen popped up this time, however.

"You have pending debts. Three books that were delivered late." The claim seemed to have brought the man some form of nervousness, as he left the books on the table and proceeded to fumble with his wallet before extracting a certain amount of money. After the client dropped the notes on Trent's hands, he dropped it within a small box kept near the computer and extracted a small amount of money as exact change, before returning it to him. Once that was done, a few more keystrokes and the screen had been wiped.

Afterwards, it was more of the same - inserting the client's ID number again, entering the codes on the backs of the books, producing a small receipt (apparently those only appeared with higher amounts of books loaned) and sending him off. What was extraordinary was the speed with which the young man's hands moved as he handled the process - he appeared to have a lot of proficiency with the process.

Once the client had left, he let out a sigh. "Yeah, sorry, I should have known that would happen. That guy has been very problematic for us for a very long time, and I should have taken over once he appeared... ugh." He did look like he felt somewhat guilty, at least.
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Monika Apologist

Again, Trent had to come in and save Haru from the perils of the computer screen - they stepped back and let Trent do his thing, looking and feeling a bit embarrassed at how inept they seemed to be. It didn't help that Trent seemed to be some kind of computer wizard, rapidly typing and moving through screens to get the process done in a matter of seconds. It all looked very professional - if Trent was a canine, one might even call him a 'pro dog.'

The client left, and Haru let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thanks for the save. I, uh, didn't really know what was happening..." Trent then explained what had happened, and Haru nodded slowly. So it wasn't really their fault after all. "No, it's ok! You did it eventually, and you did it super fast, too! But, uh... maybe you should show me how all of the other stuff on the computer works before someone else comes?"
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theredarcana
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"...yeah. That was my fault. F--I mean, uh, just look."

After that blunder, Trent couldn't really allow himself to expose Haru to more embarrassment like that. It wasn't their fault and they did not deserve it.

...

Why did he suddenly care so much?

Not too long after, Trent had given out a more concise explanation of how the system for book loans was handled, and he made sure Haru was paying attention this time around. He left out a few parts about handling some errors since they only happened in such specific scenarios that it was simply not worth it for Haru to learn them on their first day.

Conveniently enough, another client was coming up - a woman carrying three books with her, who already had her library card in hand. Trent knew the woman - she was the exact opposite of a problematic client, and even though she had three books, it was very easy to cooperate with her and she probably wouldn't give Haru any trouble.

Or would she?

"This one's yours."
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Monika Apologist

Haru forced themselves to pay attention when Trent explained how the computer worked this time, making sure to watch what all the menus did and what to enter for each of them. They still weren't feeling especially confident, though, when the next client came, so when Trent said that Haru would be helping her, they couldn't help but turn around and say, "Huh?" Haru paused, and said, "Err, I mean... Right! Yeah. I can do it."

The woman came up to the desk and Haru offered them a smile. "Hi! I'm Haru..." They almost said 'books?' again, but bit their tongue before doing so. "How can I help you today?" It ended up being a pretty simple process - she was just checking out a few books, with no blemishes on her record and no errors popping up. As Haru was going through each of the books, they couldn't help but stop at one and say, "Oh! I've read this one before! It's a really good book, it..."

They got into a brief conversation with the woman about the piece before she left, and Haru let out a sigh when she closed the door behind her. "D-did I do it right?" They asked, looking at Trent. "I didn't miss anything, did I?" They hadn't - the process had been done exactly as Trent had told them to do, albeit a bit slower.
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theredarcana
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Silently, the pale young man observed Haru as they did the job. Everything was going over smoothly, all was normal.

Right up until the point where Haru got into a conversation with the client. Once it began happening, Trent frowned - not of rage, but of slight bewilderment or confusion - and kept watching as the conversation unfolded. Once it was over and the woman left, he couldn't help noticing that something about her was... different. She somehow looked more satisfied.

Upon Haru's question he appeared to be deep in thought. "...not just that, you did it beyond right. I haven't seen a client this happy in... well. ever. Hm." He crossed his arms. "I'd never considered actually making small talk with the clients..."

The day advanced and, since nobody came to cover for Trent or Haru, they remained for a while longer behind the counter.
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