Studying In A Library-Turned-Food-Court

Coming so soon after kungfubunny's reporting of certain oddities while she was in one of the ladies' washrooms at our school's Central Library that even got her "tomorrow-ed," it was an earth-shattering shock to find somebody eating her dinner in the reference section of the aforesaid library on Monday.

This girl actually had the audacity to eat her piping hot bowl of fish-slice bee hoon in the air-conditioned comfort of the reference section. That she was wearing a sweater that screamed the Raffles JC emblem front and back, worsened the whole sighting.

I was appalled. It's bad enough that people snack on sweets, chocolates and tidbits in the library. Hot drinks are tolerated since the library can be really cold, but this surely takes the cake.

Whatever happened to library etiquette? What has all the years of education done for people?

I had wanted to questioned her aloud, embarrasing her in the process. But for once, my senses prevailed and I decided not to give her a metaphorical bitch slap by library-shaming her -- partly because the sheer shock of the sighting rooted me to the ground with such panache. I decided to be nice for once. I wrote her a note.

Hi,

I am sorry I have to do this. I know time is of the essence right now, with the exams and all. But would you please finish your food at Perk Point or something? Thanks!

Clement

She apologized and sounded as if she was acceding to my special request to eat elsewhere.

Eh, hello?

It's impossible for anyone not to know that eating piping hot dinners with smells that perpetuate is a mega no-no. Prior to this sighting, I had thought things like that to be the stuff of urban legends.

After she had put away her food and dittered for a while before proceeding to take my advice and go elsewhere to finish her dinner - not before happily bitching about me, I am sure - I thought about it some more and decided that I was more appalled that nobody before me made any noise.

"Haiyah, don't be so mean lah," said an unusually nice little Miss RT.

I am sure she had started eating before I came along from my evening Biodiversity paper that Monday evening, and that people were offended. Yet nobody said or did anything to her before me.

"Eh, girl ah. If I had wanted to be mean, I would have gone to the librarian and got her black listed from using the library. I was just trying to be civil towards her," I corrected Miss RT, whose eyes were rolling in overtime by now.

Just don't let me catch anyone doing that ever again, because you might never know when my dark side would surface.