Library Bells
I have an annoying tendency to needlessly embarrass myself occasionally. (This post will surely qualify.)
There's a desk bell on the library counter with the sign "please ring for service". As I handed my book to the librarian for checkout, I wondered: How is the ring connected to the service? A too literal interpretation of the wording might lead one to think that the ring is necessary for all service, rather than something needed to acquire service only when service is lacking. In other words, if I am already being served is the external signal necessary? Is this an example of a "baptism by desire" - my desire for service obviated the need of the bell's externality?
Surely I was overthinking it. But the lack of precision in the sign bothered. I wanted it to say something less pithy and elegant but more meaningful like "please ring if no one is at the counter". So as a joke I rang the bell and said something like "do I still have to ring it if I'm being served?". The bell rang out in the stock silence like a hurricane siren in a monastery. The young librarian was not amused, not getting the "joke". Instantly I didn't get the joke either. A man about my age popped up from several yards away and I had to wave him off with an embarrassed smile. I was being served already. Sometimes a library bell is just a bell and not a metaphor.
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