An important question

Working at the Reference Desk, a few minutes before 2 in the afternoon three young teen-aged girls, er, young ladies, approached me. One said that a man who had been sitting next to them suddenly moved closer; when he did so, they looked over, and saw pornography on his computer screen.

They seemed upset. In a low voice, my fathering instinct kicking in, I asked them who the man was. No, not that guy with the red shirt, they said, but the man standing outside in the courtyard talking on his cellphone. I recognized him, instantly.

The girls, er, young ladies, said that as soon as they looked over toward him, once he had made a move that made them uncomfortable, he shut the window on his screen. As we were talking he had finished his phone call, and moved to computer number 4, the one with the screen no one can see.

I was upset. The teenagers were clearly upset, even afraid. I told them that they could go back to where they'd been before, that we would check on them every few minutes, and that if anything bothered them, they should come over to the Reference Desk.

They did not want to go back. They asked me not to say anything to him, because they did not want anything to happen. They didn't want a scene. They were obviously not just nervous, they were afraid. They chose to not go back to work in the computer area; they chose to go to the children's room.

After just a few minutes they came out of Children's, and went back to the adult computer area. They did some more work.

By then I was sitting in the demo area, working on my OPAC presentation. As the three teens passed by, one of them waved at them; I knew immediately that she, they, needed reassurance. Some minutes later they passed by again, on their way out of the Library, and one of the three caught my eye and smiled. Perhaps it was appreciation, perhaps a seeking of reassurance (I'd say the former).

The kicker of the whole thing is that Grandpa Porn sat down and watched not only most of my OPAC presentation, but the following database presentation as well.

As I reflect on it all now, I am quite upset. Why does this jerk get away with upsetting three teen aged females? I've seen him looking at porn. He has a reputation as a porno man. In fact, he's been doing it for many years. Why does he get away with it? Because no one has said anything to him, because he can get away with it.

It seems entirely inappropriate that such a jerk can get away with being a bully. He should be reprimanded, embarrassed, called out for his boorish behavior. It is one thing to look at porn in a public library computer; inappropriate. But to upset three youngsters is an entirely different thing. He can not be allowed to get away with such brazen behavior. He must be reprimanded.