So, last week I come back from lunch, and my coworker Amy tells me that I've got to listen to this voice mail. At Twin Falls Public Library, we occasionally get busy and when that happens, we are instructed to ignore the phone and focus on the patron that comes in. The result is that the person calling is sent to voice mail, which informs them that we are busy but please leave a message. Apparently, this man wasn't too happy with our policy, as this was the message he left: "Yeah, if you guys are public service, why don't you try answering the damn phone?" We, of course, saved it, and it is an endless source of amusement and inside jokes. But it also made me wonder: is our policy correct?

As a person who extremely dislikes the phone (it takes me MONTHS to even call for a dentist appointment), I can see how this can be aggravating. I mean, this person screws up all his courage to call the library, and doesn't even get to talk to a real person. He's stuck with the machine and the slight promise that we'll get back to him when we feel like it. But then you've got to take into account the patron that spent all his hard-earned pennies on gas so he could make it to the library, and plus, has to stand in line with screaming children all about. Should he get precedence over the one who calls in? Who is more important? Who gets service first?

It's a tough question, so I'm throwing it out to you. Good luck - I hope it doesn't burn your brain cells.

And, oh yeah: Answer that damn phone.