Maybe it was the PMS

Salesperson for a product I've heard of but couldn't possibly afford on my budget and which our small library doesn't need: Hello, I'm X, from Y, and I'm your new account representative, and so I just wanted to introduce myself to you and see how our product can help you.
Me: But we don't subscribe to Y. How can we have an account? How can you be our account rep?
Salesperson: Well, yes, you see, that's why I'm calling....
Me: I really don't think I'm interested, thank you.
Salesperson acts shocked but exits reasonably gracefully.

Maybe it was rude, but I really don't see any reason to waste salespeople's time or mine by listening to the whole spiel for something I know is out of our league. I learned a long time ago as a telephone survey researcher (academic, not telemarketing) that it takes a direct, 'sorry, not interested' to keep the calls from stacking up in the future.

Also, in the time I've been in this position (seven years! ancient!) I've learned a lot about sneakiness as a business tactic. Oh, I'm not saying they were particularly so--although really, there's a difference between an account rep and a sales pitcher. No, I'm talking about publishers who send books with an invoice making it look like you've had a standing order so the newbie will pay for it--and then send a new 'annual' edition three months later. Or the ones that say 'I talked to X person in your company and they authorised the shipment'...even if it was a secretary or even a non-existent person. Or the magazines that send renewal notices for things you don't subscribe to, on the chance you might. Since it can be difficult to figure these things out, especially if you're new to the position or the field, it works for them quite often. I had one such experience where it was like pulling teeth to send the things, and where I had other department bringing me the ones they'd received, too. I finally did two things: 1) instituted a policy where we do not accept books on review (so I can tell them that up front, and they can send me the literature if they want, but not the book) and 2) any unsolicited item I receive is dutifully catalogued and a letter thanking them for their donation to the library is made. See, unsolicited things received in the mail are not actually required to be paid for or for that matter, returned. I have also made postal fraud complaints in severe cases.

The thing that gets me about the really blatant abusers is that they act like librarians don't all get together and compare notes. We're incredibly tech savvy, after all. Just go the the MEDLIB-L archives and type in 'Faulkner & Gray' if you want an example. I'm sure lots of other lists do likewise.

Speaking of the list, I also got a couple of reminders that I wasn't able to get approval to go to the Medical Library Association's annual meeting. One of my counterparts at another hospital called me from Washington DC to ask me if I'd like for her to look at some of the job openings, which was rather nice. I doubt I could take a job in another hospital due to my latex allergy, unless the facility was latex free like my current workplace. But it's worth a look. Another colleague who didn't get to go was out there asking for a bit of a chat. He deals a lot with health information in Spanish, so I told him about the efforts here in Lexington to promote a new branch serving primarily a Spanish-speaking populace.