TikToker Hank (@hanklank) used to work at the downtown library in Oklahoma City. One day, a woman came in, pitching a fit over a flyer on the community bulletin board.
She walked up to Hank’s desk, shook the flyer in his face, and loudly demanded to know who had approved it.
The flyer was for a missing cockatiel named Mango. It had been posted on the bulletin board for about a week. To Hank, it seemed harmless and kind of sad that someone had lost their bird.
The woman pointed to a phone number listed at the bottom of the flyer and stated that that was her husband’s number. Hank immediately froze because he knew where this confrontation was headed.
Hank tried to suggest that her husband had possibly found the bird, but she retorted that he hadn’t been able to find a job in over three years, so there was no way he could find a missing cockatiel. By then, she had started to yell.
About 10 minutes later, a man wearing cargo shorts and sunglasses on top of his head stormed into the library, already looking guilty.
When he saw the flyer, he began yelling at Hank for leaving it up. His wife came up to him and questioned him about Mango because Mango was also the name of someone whose number he had saved in his phone.
Everyone in the library was pretending to read while listening to the drama go down. One older man was even holding his book upside down.
A week later, Hank heard that the other woman, “Mango,” was from a nearby suburb, and they met in a Facebook barbecue group. He doesn’t know if this is true.
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“Anyway, apparently, the woman he was seeing had this bird named Mango, and then he and she got into an argument because he was supposed to be bird-sitting while she went to some conference in Texas,” said Hank.
“He left the door open, and this Mango bird flew away. He’s trying to find the bird of his mistress, and his wife just so happened to be a local patron.”
Several TikTok users were obsessed with the story and agreed that libraries are surprisingly full of public drama.
“Not enough people know how fun it is working in a library, especially a large one. I worked circulation at my university, and it was the best job ever,” commented one user.
“Our city actually has a no solicitation policy where we don’t have a community board at our library because of stuff like this,” stated another.
“My ex-husband went to a Facebook barbecue group meetup and asked for a divorce when he came home. I cannot make that up! Those groups are dangerous!” exclaimed a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
