I'm not trying to defend this at all. It's appalling. But was part of the problem that she was sitting on the floor -- and possibly therefore a hazard or obstruction to others? Would she have been arrested if she'd been sitting in a chair at a table, etc? Does this woman have a history of causing problems? Was she even, possibly, trying to be arrested?

If I were to sit down in the middle of a grocery store aisle or on the floor of a hotel lobby with my legs straight out so people would have to step over me (or possibly trip and fall) that could legitimately be considered disruptive. (Yes, I know. Hotels and grocery stores are private property and a library is a public building ... but still.) And, if she'd been sitting with her eyes open, would that have made a difference? Or working a crossword puzzle? Or playing solitaire? What exactly was their complaint about what she was doing? (Or not doing ... as the case may be.)

Having said all this, I was once asked to leave a bookstore because I was writing a list of titles from books on the shelves that I wanted to order at the library. I was one of three customers browsing in the bookstore at the time. I was the only one in the aisle where I was writing. I wasn't sitting on the floor. I was writing on a clipboard.

The store manager somehow decided I was ripping off their inventory in women's studies so I could open my own bookstore. Since we had not exchanged one word before he asked me to leave, I have no idea how he came to that conclusion. (I was killing some time while I waited for my husband to arrive at the mall so we could go to dinner. I had told him where he could find me.)

I pointed out that I was quietly minding my own business, that I wasn't bothering anyone. He said, "I'm asking you very nicely to leave." I answered, "And I'm telling you very nicely I don't intend to."

He didn't call the cops although I half expected he might. I've wondered several times since how that would have played out if he hadn't let it go. Maybe in the police state we have today, I'd find out.