Gender Unknown

More and more often as the years to by I see patrons enter these hallowed halls of information and have to wonder... is that a dude or a chick? Just because a patron has facial hair doesn't rule out the XX chomosome. With all the hormonal imbalances that occur in the human body you could be looking at an unaltered bearded lady. Are those man breasts or an unfettered c-cup? Pregnancy or a beer belly? Low gravely voice? Could be a 2 pack a day smoker. Sam, Pat, Chris? Dear Lord what's a librarian to do if gender becomes an issue during the course of a reference interview? Here's a couple of he/she's who have crossed my path:

Mrs. Boy George - aka Chris. (I kid you not! We couldn't even get a break with the first name!) We figure she was an actual well...she... but to this day we are still unsure. Mrs. Boy George would come in every day, get on the computer, print and generally obsess about - you guessed it everything Boy George (a pop icon from the 80's for those who were born yesterday.) During his/her - oh bother! stay she would compliment the more full figured reference staff members on their appearance. Which freaked us out. I mean being gender unspecific, a Boy George Stalker and a chubby chaser. Ewwww...

*I once helped a patron who I was absolutely sure was male. I questioned his use of a computer because the card he was using was obviously a female's - I guess the person in question get's mistaken for a male all the time which is why she carries her birth certificate with her. It didn't help that she had a military buzz cut Paton would have envied and dressed like a vato from the barrio.