Monday, October 19, 2009

So Sue Me

About a year ago, Brandon, in frustration, after looking at our financial records, and realizing that I was spending more than $50 a month on books, asked me, “Haven’t you ever heard of the library?” (Frustrated sigh.)

Huh. The library. Though I’ll admit touching yucky pages that can sometimes have that ominous red or green stain on them can be pretty grody, I though, Wow! The library. I can save money and read as much as I want! Now I don’t have to force myself to slow down when reading a book so I finish it in two days instead of one so I can get my $15 out of it and not feel guilty! Whammo.

So I went to the library, like, every other day. And I partook of their amazingness.

And then we moved.

And Breezy lost looooots of books en transit. And a couple DVD’s. And the library kept sending me hate emails, telling me that my materials were overdue. (And I'm like shutup I KNOW stop reminding me!) And then they told me they were lost, and they were angry, and they were charging me the book fees, plus the lost fees, and before I knew it, I had like a $250 FINE.

Well, HELL NO. I just decided to repress the whole bad library sitch and go back to buying. For real, right?

And then, in August, we got a letter from The State. As in, Utah. And they informed me that the library was SUING ME. Are you effing kidding me? The library was suing me for a couple of missing books? How nerdy is that?

So I (Well, Brandon. An unhappy Brandon.) paid the outstanding amount, and the library got over it, and we were all square.

Only, when I tried to access my library account online, it wouldn’t recognize it. And I was sad because even though I’d paid my debt to the frickin’ state of Utah and the library and like society, they still hated me and wouldn’t let me check out books, and I was kinda thinking that was lame. I felt so rejected.

But on Friday, on a whim, I went to the website. Entered in my library information. And I was back, baby. The library no longer hates me! It has welcomed me back into its fold again. I am now free to check out books and worry about germies and read read read as fast as I can.

So on Saturday, I went and got two books. Just two, my gentle readers, because I didn’t want to go crazy and get 3847 books and lose them all again. I had them both finished by last night. (No guilt necessary!) Today I am going back within those beloved walls and checking out more. And I will read them, and be happy. And frolic. And use hand sanitizer liberally.

And I’m sure the library looks forward to suing me. Again. Soon.

10 comments:

Heather Lindquist said...

Only you would happen to get sued by a library! You sooooooo need to give me a book list....I'm running out of good ones and I need some new ideas....

Right now I'm finishing up The Hunger Games (excellent read!), and then I'm going to read the sequel which just came out. But then, notta. Any suggestions?

Cammy said...

If I ever go bankrupt, Amazon.com is to blame. I order from them so often that they gave me a free upgrade to lifetime free 2-day shipping.

alex said...

I had a friend who racked up a $40 library fine once, but I did not know a person could get sued by the library. I'm going to remember that. Then again, I plan on being a librarian, and from my experience, people who work at libraries are also people who don't pay library fines (as long as said fines are not extravagant). I hope I'm not breaching some sort of something by telling people that.

Arielle Lee Bair said...

Haha :) All for the love of books! I feel your pain.

Alexandra Rising said...

Oh my gosh, what a scary library! I think I'd be too scared to actually go back!
But aren't libraries [in general] love?

Alexandra Rising said...

PS Hi Heather! I don't know you, but I love reading and would love to exchange book suggestions! :)

Shannon said...

They sued you!?! Wow. Lame. I guess they are serious about those fines. I love the library. I go there at least once a week and when we lived in Murray I went like every other day because they just had so many movies and stuff and it was so close. Sigh. I still kind of miss the Murray library. Glad you are reading your little heart out again. Also, you are looking so great pregnant!

simply me said...

that is so funny! i, too, recently discovered the joys of the library and how much cheaper it is! not if you're getting sued for stuff though. that stinks.

Brooke said...

Be careful. Our family has a long long history of library fines cough..Misty..cough). And current ones also (me). Point your finger in my general direction. I try to keep my max kids books to 13 and me to 2. Is that too much to handle at home? Apparently. I got that same fun letter. Awesome. The libraries have toughened up over the years. I had fines for years growing up. Then when I got married I was thrilled because I had a new name to sign in with.

Clean slate. Now, not so clean anymore.

John says I can't go anymore :( No more germs for me to worry about though :)

Jenny Bay said...

I hate it when that happens! We recently moved and I lost a DVD from the library, so I had to just pay for it. Lame.