Is that a dinosaur?

Why me?


WHY ME!


I get all the challenged people.


Be it emotionally challenged, mentally challenged, etc.


Yesterday a woman approached the reference desk with her grandson's homework clutched in her hand. This sight gives me hope for at the very least this means I won't have to play a guessing game as to what the patron really needs.

Usually the patron has no clue.

The grandma approaches me and asks me for information on a specific lizard and gives me her grandson's homework. Grandma askes"Is the first part of this lizard's name is a dinosaur name?"

I study the paper in her hand taking a deep breath. "No ma'am an armadillo is an animal native to the southern region of the United States." Grandma looking at me in puzzlement as I look back in sheer amazement. Who doesn't know what an armadillo is? Trust me, grandma looked like she had a few miles on her. One would think that experience alone would be a teacher. But still who knew? Maybe she spent the majority of her life in a strange religous cult with a taboo on animals of the American Southwest. I pulled out books that contained information on the Armadillo Lizard of which one had a photo of said lizard. She takes one look at the photo and says "What's wrong with that lizard? Why does it look like that? How come it doesn't look like a normal lizard?" I peered at the photo and was inwardly banging my head against an imaginary brick wall. Feeling the begining of a headache I replied " This is named after an armadillo and armadillos are known for curling up into a ball when threatened to protect their soft underbellies. That's what the lizard in the picture is doing."



I kept thinking -


Oh God, this woman has passed on her genes to a new generation.