[Publib] Belated Friday: Favorite Interview Questions

[Carolyn Scheer]

Sorry, Joe, your answer on #7 is incorrect.  Any woman can tell you 
that the only absolutely surefire cureall for any problem you are 
having with a computer is a small whiff of testosterone.   As soon as 
the (male) tech guru gets within 2 feet of the computer it stops 
acting up and behaves perfectly.  I wish this stuff came in a spray can.


>--- Joe Schallan <jschallan at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > My favorite interview questions:
> >
> > 1. Your well-equipped janitor's closet
> > contains cup, bell, and taze plungers.
> > Which is the best to use on the clog in
> > the toilet in the women's restroom?
> >
> > 2. On which day is your OPAC server most likely
> > to crash?  How likely is it that your system
> > administrator will be available to fix it?
> >
> > 3. More is understood about the behavior of
> > subatomic particles than about the behavior of
> > HVAC. If the building thermostat is set to
> > 72 F., what is the temperature in the staff
> > workroom?
> >
> > 4. You have missed the deadline for a project
> > for your director.  Where is the best place
> > to hide from her?
> >
> > 5. A patron is disgusted and can't believe
> > that your branch library doesn't have a
> > book she needs, and wonders what she is paying
> > taxes for. What is the book she can't
> > believe you don't have?
> >
> > 6. How many badges and/or IDs do you need to
> > wear to get people to stop asking if you
> > work here?
> >
> > 7. What is the most universally useful tool
> > for working on library computers?
> >
> > 8. What, with 100-percent certainty, is the
> > least busiest time on the reference desk?
> >
> > 9. It is two minutes until closing. A patron
> > tells you he just needs to print a few pages
> > from the computer. How many pages does he
> > need to print?
> >
> > 10.  A patron sits down at a public PC and
> > logs on, and is immediately confronted by
> > a desktop littered with pornographic images
> > left by the previous user.  Who is the
> > astonished patron's employer?
> >
> > - - - - - - -
> >
> > ANSWERS
> >
> > 1.  The bell plunger.
> >
> > 2.  Saturday. There is no likelihood that
> > your system administrator will be
> > available to fix it, because he is attending
> > a SysAdmin Conference in Saskatoon.
> >
> > 3.  49 degrees F.
> >
> > 4.  Any public service area.
> >
> > 5.  Green, Samuel S., Frederick Taylor, and
> > Alma Werfel, MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF MEMBRANE
> > PERMEABILITY FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TERATOGENIC
> > AROMATIC HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS, Berlin and New
> > York: Academia Arcana Press, 2007, 1437 pp.,
> > $495.00.
> >
> > 6.  The number of badges needed for the desired
> > effect is not known.  Experiments conducted
> > in a double-blind study at the University of
> > Washington I-School involved as many as 37
> > badges on a single librarian, with no
> > discernible decrease in the frequency of
> > "do you work here" inquiries.
> >
> > 7.  A dinner knife. ("Letter opener" or "jumbo
> > paper clip" also acceptable.)
> >
> > 8.  Whenever a manager appears, especially one
> > with authority to fund or defund your position.
> >
> > 9.  He needs to print 178 pages, most of them
> > in PDF with heavy graphics.
> >
> > 10.  The astonished patron's employer is the
> > city council.  If he does not work for the city
> > council, then he works for the local FOX
> > television affiliate, or is a close relative
> > of Dr. James Dobson.
> >
> >
> >
> > Feel free to use!
> >
> > --Joe Schallan, Phx
> >