Office Supplies

So, I was at the information desk again today (you know, my job) and some lady walked up, interrupting me from the customer I was helping, saying "I need an envelope, you know, for a disk?" Since I was obviously helping someone else, I said "Just a moment, ma'am, I'll be with you as soon as I'm finished helping this young man." So this lady went to someone else at the circulation desk (my branch has them brilliantly combined into one desk so we can hand off transactions to co-workers with ease), and asked the same thing. The young woman working at the circulation desk tried as best she could to find such an envelope for the customer, offering a plastic bag, a paper towel, and so forth, none of which she accepted. When the lady saw that I had finished with my other customer, she came up and repeated her question. "Do you have a disk envelope?" "No, I'm sorry, ma'am, we don't have those to sell or to give out. This is a library. There's a Rite Aid down the street." In a huff, she walked out. It's been my experience that people expect the library to be a storehosue of free office supplies for the public.

Another woman came into the library later in the day and asked the same young woman at the circ desk for some white out. She searched in all her drawers, and then approacehd me and asked if we had any white out. I said no. The customer came up to the information desk and asked me if I knew of a place around here where she could purchase white out.

"Yes, there's a Rite Aid down the street."
"Do they ALSO have a copy machine?" she inquired curtly.
"Um, they're a pharamacy, ma'am; I doubt it."
"What I MEANT was is there a copy machine somewhere in the vicinity of Rite Aid?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know. I think we're the closest."
This customer also walked out in a huff.

I guess I'm just fed up of people who come into the library expecting us to hand out stuff to them for free. I'm tired of having to say "This is a library. I don't know what kind of shop you think you're in. We carry books here, which you can borrow" in so many words. Just because county taxpayers get free books, free internet access, free access to highly-educated professionals, they think they should get paper clips, white out, disks, sheets of copy, and so forth for free too.

After the last customer left, I walked up to the young lady at the circ desk and and explained why I said we didn't have white out, even if we may have. She clearly didn't understand me, because she made an incredulous face. What I thought I said was "We can't be giving out office supplies to the public indiscriminantly. If people thought they could come to the information desk and get paper, pens, pencils, printer ink, white out, paper clips, and so forth for free, everyone and their brother would be at our door. I, personally, would rather have BCPL invest that money in my and my co-workers' salaries than make BCPL into an office-supplies free-for-all."

"I give people paper when they ask for it," she said dismissively, frowning, before walking away. It honestly made me feel like a total jerk, as if she thought I were being stingy. But seriously, if everyone gave out BCPL's office supplies for free, it would totally be much more expensive for the organization, right? Where is the line between providing good customer service and not being a charity for people?