Malfeasance at the BPL. Why am I Surprised?

*** WARNING *** THIS POST CONTAINS ADULT THEMES*** WARNING***

You might recall from an earlier post that I had been banned from the Brooklyn Public Library due to $18 in overdue fines (not all my fault!), which, really, I had no intention of ever paying. Well, I had to use a computer program available on library computers, which necessitated that I get my card out of hock first. It turns out I actually owed a whopping $28 dollars in fines. But you can carry a $25 fine without penalty. There's the happy part of my library experience.

It's been years since I've actually been to the Central Branch, and they've since upgraded their computers. Now you have to sign up for a spot by swiping your card and entering a pin at one computer, then watching the progress of the queue on a second monitor. The system tracks everything via your library card barcode, so when you sit down at your assigned machine, you have to reswipe your card and enter your pin to log on. After that you have 30 minutes to use the computer before you get booted off. Technology! It's a pretty efficient system, but don't you miss the days where everything was a free for all, when you could cut the line and get away with it? I'm not just talking about the computer line at the library, if you know what I'm saying.

Anyway, I'll grant that what transpires next has something to do with my own nosiness (I'm nosy. So what—sue me.), not just the inherent weirdness of human beings.

I started click clacking away at my station, right next to a little boy, maybe 12 or 13, who was surfing the web. His mom kept coming back to check on him, trying to direct him to sites that would help him do his math homework, but when I glanced over at his screen, I saw that he was reading about Ron Jeremy!

That kid left after a few minutes only to be replaced by an older guy, maybe in his late 30s, who immediately proceeded to look at gay porn—photos and videos! I was tempted to leave straightaway, but he was quiet about it, and I had a lot of work still left to do. After a few minutes he reached into the plastic bag he had been carrying around and pulled out one of those dark privacy filters you can stick to monitors! My concentration was shot by that point—and I figured things were about to get hot and heavy—so I beat a hasty retreat.

Do you think this guy likes to look at porn in public? Or does he think the privacy screen hides the fact that he's doing something sketchy (when in fact it actually enhances it?!). Or perhaps he doesn't have internet access at home? I wouldn't have necessarily thought about the latter, but I noticed that it was mainly brown people using the library computers and white people sitting at tables with laptops. Not that that's a valid justification, but naturally you couldn't look at internet porn at home without an internet connection.

I forgot to mention that throughout all of this, there was a cop passing back and forth, which suggests that there's plenty of malfeasance afoot at the BPL on a regular basis.

Anyway, I noticed that the titles of the books I checked out are pretty funny when put together:

1. The Great Wall of New York
2. I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work
3. Indecision
4. Poor People

What a dork.