Excuse me. Could you help me find a book?
- Ah. - "Virginia's Bacchanal" by Elodie Goldblatt.
Yeah. That should be under Adult Fiction in the Gs.
- I'm happy to walk you over. - No. It's not there.
Oh. Well, that means it's misfiled,
and if that's the case, it'll take some time to...
Uh, check the tables behind the Caribbean
and Black Studies section.
Oh. Thanks.
Mm.
- Um... - It's the hot new shame-read,
and there's a quiet table back there
where you can read without any judgment.
Right. Things work differently here.
Uh, excuse me!
Please don't run in the library!
My God. You're such a kid-hater.
I don't hate kids. I'd hate them if they ran at any age.
Yeah.
Hmm. Having a bit of a morning?
Yeah, well, between a system that I don't fully understand,
patrons I can't seem to connect with,
and an infrastructure I can only describe as hostile,
yeah, I seem to be having some trouble fitting in.
Mm. When I was new, I had trouble adjusting, too.
- So, you know what I did? - You requested a transfer to Midtown.
No. I found the thing that made me fit in here.
Like, Jaq's thing is working the library's socials,
and Bryce's thing is enforcing the rules.
And mine thing is finding new ways to build community.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good idea.
Um, I'll think on it.
Yeah.
My thing. What is my...
Oh! Thing! Oh!
So, yeah. We should get
a branch hamster. Hmm?
- Huh. - Yeah.
Huh?
Well, you are in a better mood today there, Big Library.
What, did you overhear somebody
correctly conjugate the word "alumni"?
Well, that's actually to decline, not conjugate, and no.
I just had a talk with Wendy, and now,
I think I know my thing.
You going to write sexy fanfic about Heritage Minutes?
I'm going to help this place run more smoothly
by making some much-needed fixes.
Huh. Not a bad idea. I can think of two or three things.
Oh, well, why don't you add them to the list of 27 things?
Okay.
What can I say? I love making lists.
Would you be okay with me using the library's socials
to document this disas... uh, project?
Oh, yes, of course. In fact, it's the list I could do.
You should use the "at" symbol for Midtown on this.
Yeah, I will. Who's Patt. Truth?
And why have they tagged us eight times today?
Patton Jefferson tagged us.
Who's that?
You really... He's a speaker of uncomfortable truths,
a prober of hard questions.
A host of a bad podcast.
It's called Lamestream Bias,
and it's just misinformation and ads for testosterone cereal.
- Cereal bars, young lady. - Why is he tagging us?
It looks like he's been slagging public institutions all week.
"The biggest waste of taxpayer money... lie-bar-aries."
Clever. And he's gone on to tag every Toronto branch.
Sorry I'm late, everyone.
I got carried away designing a flyer
- for our exciting new project. - Oh.
We're starting a human library.
What the bleep is a human library?
It's a community-building initiative
where people can volunteer to be borrowed from the library.
- Borrow people? - What I mean by "borrow"
is that you would have an eye-opening conversation
with an interesting Parkdalian
about their exciting life story.
Could we maybe change the name?
To what?
I don't know. Uh... Peopliothèque.
- Yeah. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.
- Bit of a mouthful. - That's perfect.
- You're good, Howard. - Peopliothèque.
- Howard. - Sheila.
- Hi. - What... what are you doing here?
Why aren't you at the Settlement Desk?
Oh, I'm only there 10 hours a week. The rest of the time,
I'm trying to get my law degree.
Law degree. My goodness.
Objection. Sustained. Overruled.
- Cool. You have a TV. - Uh...
My parents own this place, and I cover the changeover,
because they're divorced.
Like, pending restraining order divorced.
- My dad. - So good to meet you.
- I'm Howard. - You have a job?
- Yeah, at the library. - Nice to meet
Sheila's handsome friend with a job.
Oh, seems like my dad has a crush on you.
- Oh. - What can I get for you?
I'll get it. You two catch up, nah. What would you like?
Oh, I'll take a mostly-damp matcha latte cappuccino
with oat milk, and I say "mostly damp" because, of course,
I prefer it just a centimetre more wet than dry.
So, what's with the cheery mood?
Well, I have identified 27 different inefficiencies
at the library, and today, I am going to fix them all.
Wow.
Oh, can you wipe the steamer, please?
Ah.
Yeah. I got to work on my stuff, too, at the Settlement Desk,
you know, make it more accessible, touch up the sign.
You know, we get so many new Canadians in.
They can't even seem to find the desk. They spend
half their appointment trying to find me.
Oh, really?
Um, thank you.
Um, and sorry for the trouble.
Mostly damp? What kind of foolishness is that?
- I don't know, Dad. - It wet.
And with that, incipiat Fix-It Day.
Okay. For this one,
use a catchy hashtag, like "better Than ever."
Okay. Just when I thought it couldn't get cheesier
than "to-do list duellist."
Oh, don't forget to tag Midtown and Isla.
Right. Okay. Yeah. I'm totally going to tag your ex
in a post that says you're doing totally great.
You know what? You're right.
She'll see it from the Midtown account.
God. Oh.
This Patton Jefferson again.
Oh. What?
"Our city's library system is a hashtag mess.
Shame our tax dollars are getting wasted."
The only thing he hates more than us
is a properly placed period! Zing! Alliteration.
You know what? I have a witty retort of my own.
- No. Just don't feed the troll. - No, no, no, no.
"Mr. Jefferson, why don't you come down to our library?
I think you'll find that it's hashtag better than ever."
- Send that. - Okay.
And take a picture of me over here.
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Okay, and...
Got it.
Oh, hey, Jaq!
What do you think?
"Are you an interesting person looking to connect?
Wendy wants to ch... check you out.
Join me for some one on one."
Don't you think it's a little...
Ooh. You're right. I hear it.
Mm-hmm.
"One on one...
and a whole lot of fun."
Wink-y face.
- Now, it rhymes. - Yeah.
Who's going to tell her?
No one.
We're going to let this play out.
Tastes like success.
And a touch of sulfur.
Bryce, I did it.
All 28 tasks completed.
Tonight, I'm treating myself
to a re-watch of Julie and Julia.
Can't you just eat a block of cheese in the bath
- like everybody else? - Look. I found my thing, all right?
And it's being myself. Turns out,
all this branch needed to run smoothly
was a little Howard after all.
I'm, like, kintsugi personified.
That's those strips of beef on rice, right?
It's the Japanese art of mending cracks in broken pottery using gold.
I'm the gold, and this branch, well, it's the pottery.
Sounds like crackpot art to me.
- Ah. You see what I did there? - Yes. Sadly.
There's a great little kintsugi place
'round the corner if you'd like to go grab some...
What happened?
It's an overnight water catastrophe.
- Whew. Fixed it. - Thank goodness, Owen.
I really appreciate you coming in on your day off.
I would have been here sooner if I wasn't mid-game.
I'll be back on stream in 30, Enrique99.
Puppies in a purse. How did this happen?
Some jerk turned on the valve to the water fountain.
I turned on the valve, but I didn't know about the leak.
Dude, I will snipe you when you're not looking.
- Whoa. - Not you, Howard.
Freakachu is low-key grief-ing me.
Thank you so much for taking initiative.
I so appreciate it, but, um, here's the thing.
Now that this area is wet, after-school tutoring
is going to need to move near the comic books,
which means that the tutees will be distracted,
which means noise, which means...
I wasn't thinking. I'm sick to my stomach.
Uh, next time, I'll make sure to run this by you.
Yeah. Great.
Excuse me. Hi.
- I'm looking for Wendy. - You must be here
for the Peopliothèque. Come with me.
All right.
I am so excited to get this started.
Oh, me, too. I, uh, I heard you're looking to find
that, uh...
- special someone. - So, tell me about yourself.
Why should I take you out?
Oh, wow. Right to it. Okay.
Well, I run my dad's grocery store.
I drive a second-hand Lexus,
and I own not one
- but two parakeets. - Uh...
My friends suggested that I put myself out there more,
so here I am.
Otherwise, I'd just be at home alone, eating soup.
Soup?
I'm the Fantastic Kevin.
Nice to meet you, Kevin.
The Fantastic Kevin.
Oh, sorry. Fantastic Kevin.
The Fantastic Kevin.
Tomato, beef and barley, Italian wedding...
One time, I met Lionel Ritchie...
's Quebecois impersonator.
Instead of singing "Hello",
he sang "Allô".
Egg drop. Oh.
Chicken.
Chicken noodle if I'm feeling adventurous.
I'm telling you, Gatineau is a scene.
I got sick the first day
and spent the entire time on fluids.
It was... Ugh.
Mmm.
The best trip of my life.
Printer's jammed.
Again?
- Howard! Printer! - Shh.
You know, I know a guy who could fix that, cheap.
He'll even do it for Bitcoin.
Oh, no. We've got it covered. Thanks.
But come see me later about this Bitcoin guy.
Do you even know what Bitcoin is?
- No. - Guys, I found the jam.
That is the third jam today.
Why do so many people have access to the printer?
- Mm-hmm. - Oh. I installed the plugin
on all the computers yesterday.
You can only print from one terminal, Howard.
Otherwise, the printer gets overwhelmed.
Now, we are at the mercy of our patrons.
Yeah. Speaking of, does anyone get a weird vibe
from them today?
They look like a barbecue of dads.
- They're Patt-ree-ots. - Oh.
I'm sorry. Pat-tree-ots? What, have you
only ever read that word before?
Pattriots is what we followers of Patton Jefferson call ourselves.
Ooh, and there's the merch. They got the hats and the t-shirts,
and, oh, they got bottle openers now!
What are they doing at our branch?
Oh! Oh.
Yesterday, I may have inadvertently,
accidentally invited him...
What's up, Pattriots?
Wow. So glad to see so many of you here
for my visit to the Jameson Library.
Today, we find out whether it really is "better than ever"
or a complete waste of taxpayers' money!
Ask the tough questions, Patton!
Go back to your own country, Patton!
Right! So, smile for the livestream.
- Oh, my God. - Oh, what have I done?
I was born in Parkdale.
Raised right around the corner.
And, um, you started working at a bank or something?
Actually, I moved to Denmark in my early 20s.
- Oh, you did? - Yeah. I just wanted adventure,
which explains how I ended up in Antarctica.
Oh, it's always been my dream to go there.
Yeah, but by then, I was just checking off continents.
The first six were easy, because I was on tour.
Oh. What band did you tour with?
I wish.
I was in Cirque Bicyclette.
The French-Canadian circus extravaganza?
But... but now, I just run a small bakery
that Guillermo Del Toro visits whenever he's in town.
Oh, my... Brian, you're practically perfect!
You're the exact person I've been looking for all along.
- Now... let me ask you a question. - Mm.
How much do you know about BDSM?
- Excuse me. - Mm.
I left some books on the front shelf a couple days ago,
- and now, I can't find them. - Oh. I'm sorry.
I must have put them away. I thought they were misfiled.
Howard! Printer's jammed again!
Um... Oh!
Why don't you take "Michel and Angelo"?
It's a Belgian comic about twin boy detectives
who have adventures all over the world. You'll love it.
Is that by the artist who draws
people of different cultures racist-ly?
What?
Uh, excuse me.
You know, that was really just meant for the kids.
That was really not meant for you.
Um, okay. So...
What fresh hell is this?
I think those kids you told to stop running around
needed to run around, and I think their mom
would appreciate them running around, too.
My mom's getting impatient,
and I still haven't found my book!
Howard, there's this rowdy stranger locking me
out of my office. He's huge and intimidating!
So, can you get rid of him, please?
Did you flatten out the carpet?
- Yes, I did. - Bob uses that to orient himself.
- Well, of course. - Ja-me-suck!
- Hey, hey, are you okay? - Ja-me-suck!
- Uh...
Ja-me-suck! Ja-me-suck!
What the labradoodle is going on out here?
I can't believe my eyes.
I'm sorry. Who are you?
I am someone who cares about this city.
- Yeah! - You know, I came
to this lib-rary...
willing to give it the benefit of the doubt,
but it's not only poorly-run.
It is a den of subversive leftist activity
and sexual depravity!
Patton! Patton! Patton! Patton!
If you need the library to read, to print off résumés,
or to use the washroom, you can stay.
But if you are here to vent your misplaced frustrations,
you can get the heck out!
Language.
All right, Pattriots. Let's take it to the streets.
Where can I get one of these?
I thought I could help that place succeed,
but I don't know. Maybe Jameson is beyond saving.
Yeah. I'm telling you, dude.
That place is one stabbing away from being Winnipeg.
Come work with me at the museum, where it's safer.
Yeah. Actually, are you running
that exhibit on the Punic Wars still?
Carthago stupenda est?
You're a riot.
Um, you know what? Um, I'll think about it,
- and I'll get back to you. - All right. See you.
- Hi, Howard. - Hello.
Did you ever watch The Muppet Show?
- Yes? - Every episode,
they line up a bunch of acts,
all of which go horribly wrong.
Fozzie tells terrible jokes.
Gonzo fails at a stunt,
and Kermit runs around like his head is cut off.
But at the end of the day, that's just what the show is.
But it'd be so much better if they rehearsed.
The Muppet Show succeeds because it is a beautiful mess.
Jameson is our Muppet Show.
And I guess by changing things, I've disrupted the ecosystem.
We've had to turn our lacks and our losses
into wins, and it's created a really special dynamic
that is unique to this branch.
I'm used to a certain... standard of quality at Midtown.
Well, that's the problem, Howard.
You were thinking of Midtown.
And you were thinking of Isla.
Yeah, maybe a little.
It's tough to be at a new place
when you're still missing your old one.
But you can't change Jameson to serve you.
You have to serve Jameson.
So maybe next time, don't try to fix 27 things.
Uh, 28 things.
Maybe curate a shelf
or... or greet everyone with a smile, you know?
Help the show succeed.
You know what? Yes. I'm going to try
to embrace its idiosyncrasies.
Like that Muppet that throws the fish.
Sorry you had the wrong idea about Peopliothèque.
You have to go. The chocolates can stay.
Jaq, why are you denying candidates access to my program?
I think they're more interested in having access to you.
- What are you saying? - Wendy, they're not here for the Peopliothèque.
They're here because they think you're looking for a date.
Why would they think that?
Read the poster.
"Come to Jameson for a good time."
Sounds fine.
"Wendy wants to check you out."
Huh.
"Let's stimulate each other."
Oh, no.
I wrote a horny personal ad.
Yeah. I tried to tell you yesterday,
but then it became funny.
Ah.
Hey.
Are you here for a human library,
or are you here to date me?
To date you.
Uh, Brian, I think you're great, but...
Oh, oh, oh, no.
I'm here for the Peopliothèque.
I was part of the original Human Library back in Denmark.
Oh. You're so cool.
Well, um, I'm so sorry to disappoint the rest of you,
but, uh, I'm not looking for love.
Oh.
That's okay.
Why don't we all go out for a drink
and kind of see where this thing goes?
I'll message you about the details for the program.
- Okay. - Okay.
All right. Terrific.
Oh, well, sorry this backfired.
I can help reword the poster.
Maybe you get some actual volunteers.
All I want is for people to hook up with strangers.
I'll write the poster.
I hear it now. Ugh.
Uh, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to exit the library.
Debate me.
The library is closed.
I think I win.
I'm sorry. We're closed.
Oh. Um, don't worry.
I'm going to fix that.
- You moved this here? - Yes, but don't worry.
I'm going to move it back.
- No, no, don't. It's perfect. - It is?
It's visible from the lobby, so people know to come here,
and the signage is very clear, if not a little ambitious.
Jaq even said that there were new people
looking for resources.
Howard, this is so thoughtful.
Thank you.
I did good.
You did good.
Well, you know, it's a pleasure to serve the library.
Well, we're lucky to have you.
I got to run, but I'll see you tomorrow.
Yeah. See you.
Ooh! Ah, yes.
The beautiful mess.
Whew!
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Oh, someone's in a good mood.
What, did they post a new episode of that Lamestream Bias?
Yup, and Patton Jefferson's thinking of running for mayor.
Oh. You know, that checks out for society.
On a positive note, you know, I think I found my thing.
Yeah? Is it a thing for Sheila?
No. Absolutely not. No.
Well, maybe.
You know, as a friend, if that's what you meant.
That is what you meant, right?
'Cause that's how I took it that you meant it. Is that...
I think you'd make a nice couple.
Hmm.
It's too bad she's married.
She is?
You happy now?