I presented this scenario to groups of librarians all over Minnesota in April You’re sitting at the reference desk and as someone approaches the desk the phone begins to ring and an instant messaging window pops open, who do you help first? I heard a lot of answers it depends on how the person in front of you looks answer the phone ask them to hold, type how can I help you in IM and ask the person standing in front of you how you can help them it depends on which you noticed first the person in front of you, they took the time and effort to come in It was that last response I was trying to get them to rethink, sometimes I would point it out and sometimes someone else from the audience would – each of those people took the time and effort to contact you, not just the person standing in front of you. Each of them did it in away you told them was acceptable when you provided the contact information. I worked retail for years and this was a standard interview question – there is a person in front of you and
