Research Facility Etiquette

One of my genealogy research friends and I got today for the day yesterday at the Minnesota Historical Society work on family death certificates. Even though it was a Wednesday, it got fairly busy after 10 am. and here's where the story turns to etiquette. The woman next to me on the microfilm readers brought her two nieces and her Dad to help her research the family lines- no probelm there. But after two hours of her talking loudly to the "helpers" from a row or two away, I was about to make a comment about no one being able to her her up at the front desk, but I bit my tongue. We took a break for lunch and there they were again- we ate as far away from them as the cafeteria walls would permit. The afternoon was more of the same, with just her Dad there to help but more chastising and berating him publicly when a microfilm wasn't in the drawer or he didn't read fast the newspaper pages fast enough for her.

Does she know how loud and offensive she was? Probably not. Why didn't anyone say anything? Probably that "Minnesota nice" thing at work again. What is the standard for behavior?

Well, no one minds when you cheer a good find or get excited about your work, but loud and obnoxious for hours on end just doesn't cut it for any of us, whether researchers or not. Yelling from row to row or one end of the facility to another doesn;t work either. Even though a lot of the researchers are older, it doesn't mean that they are deaf!