Atherton Library — Attraction in Atherton

Update: there seems to be some minorities who do not live in the area who keep showing up on a religious basis, for the intention of "staking their claim" there. I've seen this before at some places where you might have a an all-white church and suddenly a person of color who doesn't live there nor really even cares about the church nonetheless decides just to start attending there all the time just to make a point. The point never being very clear , other than it's awkward. Maybe that's the point, they like to make other people feel AWKWARD. I say life's TOO SHORT for that kind of nonsense. Get a life Update: some people apparently have started reserving the study rooms in advance just in case they feel like going to the library ... but most of the time they don't show up. So it's like playing lotto whether or not to sit down in an empty room wondering if they will show up or not. Sure, you can reserve it after 15 minutes but that requires 10 more minutes to go to the desk and have them do it manually, and by that time you only have 35 minutes remaining to use the room. Then you have to do it again for the 2nd hour. So what's the ANSWER for these people making " just-in-case reservations" WITHOUT ever SHOWING UP?

Only allow people to reserve a room twice a week maybe, rather than every day. I suspect the people who are doing this are making reservations for every day of the week and maybe showing up once or twice. It's a nice library, especially for those of us who remember the old library; however there are minorities from other places, even other countries, who are starting to become bossy , even towards anglos who have grown up here. It's bizarre how they start out friendly and submissive, just glad to be able to use the nice library, but then over time they become possessive and entitled even to the point of thinking they are superior to the locals.

Even a minority employee who apparently only works weekends and hadn't seen me before because I usually only visit during the week tried to treat me like a newcomer and even was a little misleading about using the study rooms, which I use on a regular basis and I know about all the rules.

I had to tell her the rules and that she was wrong about what she was telling me. I guess she wasn't expecting to hear such intelligence out of the mouth of a random "white boy" (who is almost 60-yo ).

Times have changed,...

I remember the old Atherton library (ie a trailer). The new Atherton library has attracted a lot of "supremacists": but not the white kind (who don't really exist very much, especially not in CA; where whites are actually a minority) . I'm talking about those who think they are superior to white people . I'm a white person who has lived all over the world, & been very successful, including numerous academic degrees; & studied several different languages (including Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, & Arabic; oh, I almost forgot, also Aramaic) & yet I've experienced people here who assume I am a "stupid white boy" . It's the most disgusting grotesque racist thing in the world. And the white staff at the library, as good as they are (the best!) don't know how to handle it. If a white person (esp white male) gets wronged by a non-white person (maybe a micro-aggression, or even a more overt aggression) in their minds it's been so ingrained that the "minorities" (who are actually the majority in CA ) need special treatment and empathy and extra patience etc, or even assume that the white person is to blame for "triggering" them (or if we did unintentionally trigger a person; find a way to educate us as to how sometimes unknowingly we are triggering them so we can try to accommodate without also compromising our intellectual honesty & integrity) . San Mateo library needs to start training for the increasing opposite scenarios where the minority person (who is actually a majority in CA, repeated for emphasis) is the aggressor. They need to at least begin entertaining the idea that a "person of color" can and will become an aggressor at times; and how not to re-victimize the white victim by assuming the white person intentionally did something to "trigger" the minority person (who is the majority, repeated for emphasis) and therefore "deserves" the wrath of the person of color. Please start discussing this amongst staff and management before it...

I had the most creepy experience here when some Asian UNgentleman committed a Major aggression against me. My attempt to resolve it via library management left me feeling gut- punched. the Asian guy spoke down to me as if i was inferior just because im "white". Even though I don't even identify as white. Minorities treat whites with such disdain around here. I've lived all over the world endures many hardships and still completed a BA BA And Masters degree among many another achievements. To be treated poorly by a minority is sickening. And memo to library management: please remember whites are the ACTUAL MINORITY in CA. Stop babying and coddling the darker skinned so-called minorities. They are taking advantage of it and abusing & harassing white people Usually nice environment to study ... I've noticed there's a few regular Indian patrons (from India, not native- Americans) who appear to be "high- caste" - which is not necessarily in accord with the  American way. This is not talked about very much, but the truth is that the India caste system is a SUPREMACY system.

In essence how well you will do in life is highly correlated with the family you are born into rather than your personal aptitude, dedication, hard work, and achievement based on what you've personally accomplished.

When they bring this attitude to America, even if they mask it to a certain extent, it still becomes apparent at times. And when you do notice it because of some micro aggression etc, your eyes are suddenly wide open, and you can't unsee it. It is an EPIPHANY.

The India caste system is un-American . We judge people on their merits, not what family they are born into ( although it does help to come from a "good family"  in terms of getting your ' foot in the door', so to speak; but after they first step we're all on the same playing field).

But looking down on people with condescension as if you are inherently superior is...