Be Kind II

Crunches

Too Much Historic Parallel

A portion of the column that appeared in The News-Gazette on June 19, 2020.

Kennedy Speech

-- from a speech, February 1958

I Am A Whiner

I am a whiner. I know that.

We have ordered delivery from Panera 3 or 4 times in the past 6 weeks or so.  As long as it’s free delivery.  And we’ve had gift cards a couple times, too.

Two weeks ago I placed an order.  Much to my surprise I had a free pastry waiting for me.  The catch was I had to order $10.  Normally this would be a problem on my own, but with both J and me, I easily met that criteria.  It expired that same day, so I was in luck to have stumbled on it by happenstance.

Alas, when I attempted to add on my free reward, I discovered that the “muffies” were not available.  Aggravating.  Offer me a reward and not have it.  So I contacted customer support: 

A week later I received a reply, and a free pastry was added to my account with no restrictions.  Yay!

Driving home from my “destination walk” yesterday morning, I went thru Panera’s drive-thru.  I was looking forward to my favorite, a Bear Claw.  And I decided on a Cinnamon Roll for a backup.  I also decided to purchase a blueberry bagel “just because.” 

I requested the Bear Claw, and I was told they did not have any.  They listed the pastries that I could select, and the Cinnamon Roll was not included either.  Disappointing.  So I decided to wait another day and just settled on the bagel.

I thought later that I know quite a few items on their normal menu have not been available due to the reduced business because of the Covid virus.  I think maybe I’ll need to set aside my Bear Claw desire and just go with what is available.  The orange-cranberry muffin that was included in the list of items that was recited to me sounds appealing.
 

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

CPL started curbside pickup on May 15.  I still had a book to finish so I did not rush to reactivate any of my holds until May 23.  I figured the books would be ready for pickup the next week.  I checked a few times, and they always remained “pending.”  To tell the truth, that did not seem reasonable.  Yes, maybe the library was overwhelmed with people placing requests.  But it’s been over a week since I reactivated the two books -- and I knew there were copies on the shelf -- and I thought I would have seen some action on them.

So I emailed the library:

To: Library
Tue 6/2/2020 5:25 PM

Hello.  On May 23 I “reactivated” two books in my long list of suspended Hold Requests.  I specifically chose these two books because they both had multiple copies on the shelf at Champaign Public.  I sort of expected to receive notice that they would be available the following week.

But they are both still “pending.”  If you’ve been really busy filling requests for curbside pickup, I’ll stay patient.  Otherwise, I’m wondering why they’ve been pending for over a week.  Thank you.

I received a reply back the next morning:

From: Librarian
Wed 6/3/2020 6:53 AM

Good morning,

I did check your account and the requests are still pending and awaiting retrieval by staff. We have received nearly 3000 requests and are working diligently to fulfill them all. We appreciate your patience during this unusual time. 

Thank you!
Adult Services Manager

Then later this afternoon I checked my account, and both books are listed as now on hold:

What a difference a simple inquiry can make.