Gotcha... Almost!

Yesterday at the library an older gentleman approached the desk and whispered something while pushing a pile of dvds towards me.  It was clear he wasn't all there so to speak, and after a few minutes I eventually found out that he wanted to check out the dvds on his mom's account.  

I told him he needed her card or pin number since he wasn't an authorized user on the account.  He looked flummoxed so I told him I would call her.  I called the number listed on her account and while I waited for her to pick up the gentleman walked over to our new books shelf.  At first I thought he was just browsing the new books.  

Nope.

The phone stopped ringing.  The gentleman, his back facing me, pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, quickly looked at me before turning back around, and in a falsetto whisper, said, hello.

I had about one second to figure out to handle the situation so I walked over to the new books and tapped him on the shoulder.  With his phone still in his hand he turned around, a smile as wide as Texas on his face.  

Nice try! I said, with as much humor as I could cobble together in two seconds.  But I still need to talk to your mom.  Can you try calling her cell phone?  

But it was my number on the account, he sputtered, confused.  

Yes, but I need to talk to your mom.  

So he called her and handed me his phone and I explained that if she added him to her account he could check out stuff with an ID.  She was very much surprised that having his phone number on the account wasn't enough.  Thankfully she was more than happy to have him added to her account and he left with the dvds, his face lit up with another giant smile.  

Thankfully this time it was a genuine smile and not a ha-ha, I almost fooled you into thinking you were talking to my 80 year-old mother and not me smile.