So it's complicated...

This older lady approached me at the circ desk tonight. She told me that she was having problems with her laptop computer. When she plugged it in and tried to turn it on, it said to plug it in to an A/C outlet. I don't know anything about electricity, but I assumed this meant that the battery wasn't working and she needed to plug the thing in. When she plugged it in, she said, nothing happened except that the computer continued to tell her to plug it into an A/C outlet (I don't know how it told her. I guess there was a message on the screen).

So I say: "Did you try plugging it into another outlet?"

Silence. Then:

"Oh, another outlet? No, no I didn't. But I just brought it to Northern Star" (whatever the hell that is) "and it was working fine there. They told me everything was fine. And then I came back here and now it's again telling me to plug it into an A/C outlet".

"Well," says I, "the only thing I can suggest is that you try another outlet. We have a few that don't work, here and there, so maybe you chose one that doesn't work".

"So it's complicated," she says, then "if I find one that works, will it be reliable?"

"I guess so. I haven't heard any complaints about outlets that weren't working upstairs anyway" I reply.

"So it's complicated, its complicated" she repeats.

And then our elderly patron, whose life has suddenly become complicated, decides to say no more, takes up her bag and leaves the library. Just then I notice her getup. You know those cheap, faux carpet bags that really kitschy women who knit and host candle parties carry around with them? This patron had a bag, pants and a jacket made out the same kind of material (but in different patterns).

I can't tell if she was slow of comprehension or if my advice was genuinely useless to her. I just thought it was funny how trying out another outlet to plug in her computer was complicated. And I think she makes her own carpet clothes.

Next, please.