Plus ça change
I don’t know why I’d never seen Monty Python’s “Gorilla Librarian” sketch before. It does prove that librarian-hiring lunacy goes back at least a generation.
Chairman: Yes. Yes. Yes. (a maniacal look in his eyes) Yes, yes, Mr. Phipps. I love seeing the customers when they come in to complain about some book being damaged, and ask to see the chief librarian and then— you should see their faces when the proud beast leaps from his tiny office, snatches the book from their hands and sinks his fangs into their soft er… (collects himself) Mr Phipps! Kong! You can be our next librarian—you’re proud, majestic and fierce enough. Will you do it?
Gorilla: I don’t think I can sir.
Vicar: Why not?
Gorilla: I’m not really a gorilla.
Vicar: Eh?
Gorilla: I’m a librarian in a skin.
Chairman: Why this deception?
Gorilla: Well, they said it was the best way to get the job.