Am I just getting old?

Sometimes I hate the uncertainty of not knowing how involved I should get with certain patron situations.

Last night, I was at job #2. A young (13 years old) woman was using the kids' computers to type out an assignment. She seemed pleasant enough. Polite, etc. Her mother went home and told the girl she'd be back about half-an-hour before closing. Okay. So far, so good.

About twenty minutes after her mother left, the girl was on her cell phone. I asked her to please put it away. She did. Again, all good. About ten minutes after that, a young man came in and joined her at a table. They were sitting very close, but I told myself I am just getting old and cranky and let it be. Then they started getting loud. Lots o' loud talking and giggling. Several times, I went over and asked them to keep it down. They responded respectfully and I just let it go.

After a while, they came over wanting to use the kids' computers. Usually these are reserved for those under 14 years of age (because there is no payment or "offical" sign-up required) and are to be used only for homework during the school week. I asked if they had homework to complete. They said, yes. So, I took down their information (we collect names, ages, and phone numbers when they sign up for the free computers -- collecting their numbers usually helps head off most of the trouble since we then threaten to call their moms when they starty acting up). The boy is 16, but since we sometimes make exceptions for high school kids doing homework and no one else is waiting to use the homework computers, I let it slide and tell him that next time he'll have to have a parent come in to sign him up for the other computers. I remind them that they need to be doing homework. No problem, they assure me and I get them set up.

A few minutes later, I look up and they are watching videos. The boy has some rap artist I don't recognize on his screen while the girl is watching Lil' Bow Wow. I go over and tell them that they are done with the computers for the night since they are clearly not doing homework. The guy just smirks, but the girl insists that this is homework. I swear, I must look stupid if she thinks I'm buying this. I ask her what the homework is. Her teacher wants her to look up information about her favorite singer, she claims. Which class? She doesn't remember. I ask to see an assignment sheet and she doesn't know what that is. Off they go.

They adjourn to their table and proceed to be loud. Then they disappear into the stacks. They come out, flushed and giggling when the girls' phone rings again and she runs to get it. I remind her about the no cell phones in the library policy. She apologizes, grabs the boy by the hand, and drags him back into the stacks.

Now. I hate following the kids, especially the teens, assuming they're up to no good and trying to catch them. On the other hand, sometimes kids (and adults, for that matter) do behave inappropriately in the library. (At my last job, the guard found a woman, uh, "servicing" a man in the stacks. When she told them they had to leave, the guy said, "Why? We ain't bothering anyone.") How responsible am I for making sure the children (because I don't care if she is 13, she's still a child) are safe?

I was unable to make a solid decision on this because I had an busy night at the reference desk and, as I was the only librarian there, was unable to get away long enough to check up on things.

Just as it started to quiet down, though, and I was about to go look for them (while pretending to look for a book, of course), I saw a woman looking around, so I went over and asked her if she was B's mother. Yes, she was. I explained my concerns about her daughter and this older boy having been in the stacks all night, feeling like the oldest, most unhip narc ever as I did so. I apologized if I was overstepping my bounds and said I was not trying to mind her business, I just wanted to be sure she was aware.

The mother was actually very nice and thanked me before going off with a look in her eye that told me that B was gonn have some 'splaining to do. (Apparently, they are trying to keep B and the boy apart, which made me feel like even more of a tattletale.) I was relieved with how the mother reacted -- a few times I have been told to mind my own business or accused of only saying something because the child was of a different race than I am.

I am still not 100% convinced that I did the right thing, though. When parents leave their teenagers with us and we notice them behaving in ways that are inappropriate or unsafe, how much of it is our business? What if telling on a child leads to more trouble at home? Am I just old and forgetting what it was like to be a kid? I dunno.