You thought you’d returned that library book, honest.
A week later, you found it under the couch. Now there’s a mark on your record and you swear you see cold disapproval in the librarians’ eyes. If you didn’t know better, you’d say even the self-checkout machine has lost a measure of respect for you.
Can’t take it anymore?
The good news is that forking over your 30¢ will buy you your freedom and the right to wear the “all library fines paid” merit badge.
Besides, at least you’re doing better than certain other people we could mention…
This is part of the merit badges for readers series, and may be posted on your site or blog. Have you earned this badge? Will you never earn it? Tell us why in the comments.
6 Comments
I’ll fess up. I owe 20¢ right now. And the overdue item wasn’t even something I enjoyed.
I try really hard on this one: due-dates on the calendar, notes by the door, email reminders. Very rarely I don’t get the books back on time, but usually I do. It’s the guilt that gets to me. I feel so bad for keeping a book from someone else who may want it.
Adorable reading piggy!
I do volunteer work at the library, so they never fine me. Not, of course, that I ever have any overdue books….
Best excuse ever for overdue (4 years) book: It was in the car so that I would remember to return it. It was in the car at the time of the car crash. Retrieving the library book was not on the paramedic’s To Do list. Librarian took pity and discounted the fine ($30 down to $10). So, I can say, “Yes, all library fines paid.” In fact the librarian was so taken with my story that once when I desperately needed to use a stack of reference books, she let me take them home when the library closed at night, insisting that they be back by 9:30 the next morning. I did and they were.
Ok, bonita’s got me beat, but the longest I ever had a book out was about 5 years. By the time I returned it, I’d moved twice and already bought my own copy of it, not realizing I still had the library’s copy. Eventually, I found it, still packed in a box, and returned it. The Albuquerque library system actually doesn’t do daily/weekly fines … eventually they just bill you for the book, and entirely waive that if you return it. Even five years later.
Oh, I’ve earned it, over and over again, and will continue earning it, forever more…
I love libraries, but I have social phobia… so huge piles of books travel out of the library, back again… more seldom. So – back to earning this badge.
At least I hope the library gets to use SOME of the money