I went into my local Pakuranga Library on Saturday (January 28) and sat in one of the lovely padded computer chairs only to find it soaking wet with someone’s urine!
Some disgusting person had sat in that seat and urinated.
You can imagine my disgust and distress when I realised what I had sat in, my clothes were soaked.
I had to drive home covered in this disgusting stuff (sitting on a plastic bag so it wouldn’t wet my car seat).
I had to throw my clothes away – they were brown stained and stinking.
I then spent half an hour in the shower trying to get rid of the smell. I don’t know when I have ever felt so upset. I am still upset and feel sick thinking about it.
There was no excuse for this to happen as there is a toilet adjacent to the Library which is quite clearly marked.
Also, if someone has had a genuine accident surely they would have had the common decency to tell a staff member to stop someone else sitting in that chair.
When I told the staff they didn’t know what to do and seemed unsure if they should remove the chair – I said, “of course you must”
As I was still upset, I went back into the library the next day and spoke to the librarian. She said she was aware there was a chair missing but didn’t know why.
She also said some libraries have plastic chairs instead of the nice padded ones.
I recommend the libraries (and all public places) change chairs to plastic and the sooner the better. At least plastic chairs can be wiped over.
Quite clearly some members of the public abuse anything decent they are allowed to use.
I will, of course, be taking a cushion to sit on in future as I don’t want to run the risk of having such a terrible experience again.
Name withheld
Pakuranga
