INCOMPETENCE AND POOR SERVICE AT IPOH PUBLIC LIBRARY (PERPUSTAKAN TUN RAZAK)

I love libraries and one of the things perhaps the main thing I miss about living in the US is the fantastic public library system.

I had visited the library near the school where I work and Greentown and found most of the shelves bare and the book collection pitifully small.

However, I had not visited the main branch of the library until this last weekend….Surprisingly, the fiction book section had a better than expected assortment.

However, the service I received there was horrible….I understand that you can’t expect too much from Malaysian government employees and as someone who has spent time in immigration and seen Malaysian bureaucracy up close, I don’t expect too much….However, to me working in a library is a bit like being a teacher….You do it partly because you love what you are doing and feel it is a good thing….A passion for books is like a passion for educating people….

But I guess that’s not the case in Malaysia….Here’s my story….

I went into the library on Saturday and saw a couple of books I wanted….However, since I am a foreigner, my wife needed to sign up for a library card….This required two photographs which we didn’t have on us….So we came back later in the day with the two photos….At that time, we were told my wife also needed her I/C….Fine so she went back home and got it while I waited at the library….Then when she came back we were told it was too late in the day to process new cards and we couldn’t check out any books that day.

Why couldn’t the %#$&*# useless fat woman behind the counter tell us this before so we didn’t have to make another trip back and forth from my house????

Perhaps I should have taken that as a warning….Today I went back to pick up the library card and check out the two books I wanted originally….One of the books was missing the card inside….The book was so old I think the card holder sleeve had just fallen out….The typical slow braindead subhuman behind the counter said it would take several days to fix this and I would have to wait….This is despite the fact I found the book in the stacks where it would still be today if I had not selected it.

At this point, My wife and I spoke up and I basically let her know what I thought of my experience at the Ipoh library so far….My wife insisted she fix it there and then….Meanwhile, an elderly man who also worked behind the counter said nothing didn’t lift a finger to help and read the newspaper the whole time.

I could sense they didn’t want trouble so gave me the book and handwrote a new card for the inside sleeve….All that trouble just to read a book….Good thing I love reading

In Malaysia, government jobs often seem like a form of social program for people who are not mentally capable of handling real work….I complaint letter to the mayor’s office is in order I think.