Silly Question...teens don't stay quiet in library

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
If you are in the library didn't you learn that you obey the librarians and stay quiet. Study and do whatever it is you're there to do. Right now I'm in the library computer area and there are a group of older teens, chattering like magpies. The librarian and security guard have been arguing with them for half an hour and still they chatter.

Making fun of both adults to their face and refusing to leave their seats. What has happened to authority figures these days? My Mom was a school teacher in a private girls school. Maybe 5'4 but built like my Callie. She had presence...if she was faced with such a situation...She could puff up her ample chest, give a grim smile and then the move that brought it all together...glare over her glasses.

At that point grown men would be running for their lives. Her larger than life personality embarrassed me when I was a child. Now I'm proud of her for teaching me how strong a woman can be. An example I've told before. One time we were in New York and my Dad hailed a cab. At the last second a man with his briefcase jumped in the cab that had just stopped for us.

My Mom went after him like...well yes like Callie. She moved like a tank when she got angry. My dad barely got her pulled back before the cab sped off. Just make me security in this place for 10 minutes and those young people would already be out the door.
 

I know of many kids who are raised well, and act out as soon as they are with their peers. The parents weren't at the library. Handling the situation was the job of the security guard.
 
We don't have security guards in small libraries and the staff deal with unruly behaviour.
Step one would be to demand their library cards.
Step two would be to send their names to their local school principal with a note that they have been barred from the library for the next 4 weeks.

Unruly teens are not as tough as they make out and it is possible to defeat their bravado.
 
Yes Fur, I was raised to be quiet in the library and obey any instruction from librarians. I still whisper in the library and make sure my cell phone is off so it doesn't start ringing there. I agree with Sifu, if they were raise to be polite and mannerly, they would not act so poorly in public whether they were with their rowdy friends or not.
 
It's just ridiculous, at my last job there were adults like that. Customers and co-workers alike...your phone isn't your own private phone booth. Folks with the ear pieces sound the most nuts. But since when did it become okay for everyone to be shouting in public, on trains and buses, walking on the street, in the library. It's just so rude, like everyone has this sonic need to be heard by everyone else. I would have given those kids time to gather their belongings...then marched the group off library property the end.
 
Warrigal said:
Unruly teens are not as tough as they make out and it is possible to defeat their bravado.
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I was one of those unruly teens and speaking from experience, trust me, some ARE every bit as tough as they make out to be and unless you're absolutely positive that you'll come out on top, no matter how much things escalate after the confrontation (especially physical), it would be best for most to not put themselves in a 'situation' and just turn the other cheek.
 
I think too that some adults are afraid of confrontation these days. Especially if you are a petite little senior librarian and white. You're challenging a group of abusive high school kids all black. You're in a sensitive situation yes. But the security person was female and black. Have her step up to the plate. But that's the difference, if you have your own confidence and authority..." OKAY FOLKS, OUT NOW, YES YOU WANT TO TELL YOUR PARENTS, YOU HAVE THEM COME IN AND WE WILL TELL THEM HOW YOU WERE BEHAVING!". Somebody has to take charge there.
 
It's not just teens.... I sat in the waiting room at the doctor's office this morning for almost an hour (being Monday, they were slammed). These two women who appeared to be there together were talking loudly, nay, I'd have to say they were braying loudly. One would laugh loudly at the end of each sentence; it was like a buzzsaw.

Crowded room, overheated, nobody was there because they wanted to be, a few people were in visible distress and it was like these two ladies were having a contest to see who could chatter more inanely and loudly than the other. When one was called in and the other one SHUT UP, you could almost hear a sigh of relief in the room.

Are people really so dense and self-absorbed that they feel that everyone else in the room is DYING, absolutely DYING to hear their business? I guess I should be charitable and assume they were both hard of hearing and didn't realize they were talking that loud, but all I wanted to do was roll up a magazine, walk over and swat them both up side of the head.

I'm getting cranky in my old age.
 
IKE said:
I was one of those unruly teens and speaking from experience, trust me, some ARE every bit as tough as they make out to be and unless you're absolutely positive that you'll come out on top, no matter how much things escalate after the confrontation (especially physical), it would be best for most to not put themselves in a 'situation' and just turn the other cheek.
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I think this is a huge part of our problem today -- we tolerate poor behavior because we have given over so much power to kids by being afraid to upset their tender psyches by not making it clear to them at an early age that certain behavior is required and acting out will not be tolerated. THEN we give them even more power by showing them they do not have to respect authority, or others, by taking power away from teachers and other authority figures to do anything about it. If they try, someone screams that their child was abused by the librarian or security guard or teacher or whoever and sues the hell out of everybody involved.

We're raising hoodlums.

I agree with you, though, that a private citizen (especially a senior) is best not getting in the middle of it.
 
Hmmm. I seem to recall both the beat and the flower children generations being referred to as hoodlums also. When my thirty three year old son was a teen, old people denigrated his generation too. Now there is a new thug generation coming up. When will it ever end?
 
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I was well brought up as were my friends, but when we were 13 yrs old we hung out at the library to meet boys. We were loud and raucous and disturbed everyone so the librarian kicked us out on a regular basis. I have no excuse for my misbehavior except, "hey, I was a 13 yr old girl" which equals brain dead in my opinion. But even brain dead teenage girls grow up and change.;)
 
applecruncher said:
I know of many kids who are raised well, and act out as soon as they are with their peers. The parents weren't at the library. Handling the situation was the job of the security guard.
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Yeah, see, I got the same stories back when I used to teach kids. I wasn't a martial arts teacher - I was a drop-off kiddie camp. The parents expected me to instill in one hour what they had failed to teach in 120 hours.

No, uhn-uhn.

I hung out with my peers as well when I was a teen and didn't need to be taught lessons by any rent-a-cop. My parents had already taught me about courtesy and respect.
 
chic said:
I was well brought up as were my friends, but when we were 13 yrs old we hung out at the library to meet boys. We were loud and raucous and disturbed everyone so the librarian kicked us out on a regular basis. I have no excuse for my misbehavior except, "hey, I was a 13 yr old girl" which equals brain dead in my opinion. But even brain dead teenage girls grow up and change.;)
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They sure do. The high spirited ones often grow into the best adults who contribute most to society.
 
Warri, I was one of those high spirited "hoodlums?" lol. All my life I have questioned everything, walked the path less traveled. I have made countless mistakes, but I think skiing on my nose in the gravel has taught me humility, and compassion for others

marginalised through no fault of their own. I think there is a difference between high jinks and delinquent behaviour.
 
Some people can't recognise the difference. I remember taking all of Year 7 (150 12-13 year old girls) on camp. We had to change trains and were waiting on the platform for about 10 minutes. The girls were excited, having just started the new school year at secondary school and going away for a couple of nights sleeping over with friends. They were not being outlandish nor delinquent and we as teachers saw no reason to tell them to keep the noise down because it wasn't that bad and they were still in the open air. The looks that were being directed at them from a couple of women on the platform were looks of pure revulsion.

It was too much for the English (as in from London) art teacher. She looked at the women and said in a plummy voice, "Yes, Madam. They are children".

I think people forget what they were like as children and teens and expect young people to be as well trained as dogs on a leash.
 
We used to play hide and seek in the local library as kids, thanks for bringing back to my mind those fun times...
 
Shalimar said:
I agree Warri. It always surprises me how many people expect children to behave like adults, yet treat them as chattels. It is often a recipe for disaster in later life.[/QUOTE

So many adults don't behave like adults... :rofl1:

Kids acting out is not new to anyone..but being a public nuisance means you need to be escorted out..whether you're a child or an adult.
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When my mother was in high school the girls would distract the teacher librarian while the boys moved whole shelves of books from one section of the library and swap them with a row of books somewhere else. The cataloguing system was completely messed up and caused the poor teacher much angst.
 
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