i used to love to go to the library. especially to check out movies. free movies. or so i thought. they would be free if i would just return them on time. i reallly want to go back to the library. i like to check out books as well. i haven't been to the library since last summer. i grew a fine. quickly. $150.00 fine. i apparently lost some movies and didn't care to realize it. well, one day i accidently found the movies. i returned them hoping to wipe the slate clean. only half of the slate got clean. apparently one still has to pay the late fees and "lost processing" fees. my fees total $71.45. all for the "free" movies and books checked-out at the library.
i am going to pay the fine. i incurred the fines so i need to pay them. however, you have to actually go to the library to pay the fines. and i am afraid of the librarians. of all librarians (my uncle is a librarian and i am definitely afraid of him in his capacity as a librarian and when i was little as an uncle--psychotherapy please). i am afraid of their hair, of their clothes, of their smells--really, i am. i am especially afraid of their comments. plus, they are so strict. nazi-librarians. like the soup nazi from sienfeld, librarians are like book nazis.
a story of a library-nazi (a true event in my life):
one of the rules is that your library card is yours only. no one else is allowed to use it. not even anyone in your own family can use it. nor can you use anyone else's card. well, one day i had left mine at home. we were as a family heading out of town on a road trip. well, shawn had reserved some books on cd. my card was at home and he didn't want to go in or something like that. anyway, i had shawn's card and went to pick up his items on hold under his name. well, the cute little librarian asked me if i had my own card after i handed her his. i replied that the card she was holding WAS my card. "oh," she said, "your name is shawn?" i said "yep!" "oh, it is a beautiful name. not too many girls with the name of shawn." i simply replied "that's right. but it is more common than you think." i have never yet returned to the west jordan library. i don't want her to recognize me, especially if i forgot and used my own card with my own name on it. and i am really not that great of a liar so i just don't know that i could pull that off again.
i really want to return to the library. i loved being a library patron. i just need to think and talk positive. and not let fear of librarians ruin my summer. i need books and movies for the kids and for me to make it through the summer and i don't want to spend a bundle. i know my track record with my fines but i could at least try to make it all free. in the end i know i probably end up paying a whole lot more for a whole lot of nothing. at least i did last year. perhaps this year will be different. maybe, just maybe, i have learned my lesson.
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oh my gosh, liz, i'm dying. i am COMPLETELY afraid of librarians! i incurred a substantial fee when i was 19. somewhere around 45 dollars. i finally found the book and returned it and never went to the library again. i expressed my fear of libraries to mary murphy one time (who was working at the library) and she offered to clean my slate. i'm not sure if she ever did. i'm too afraid to find out. i keep thinking that if i walk in the doors, i'm going to get cuffed by a burly librarian named helen.
there's got to be a support group out there for us! i really don't think you should have to pay that much money for items that have been returned. call them and strike a deal. or avoid the library for the rest of your life. that's what i'm planning to do....
I am a nerd. Especially when it comes to books and libraries. I love libraries and I have spent inordinate amounts of time in them. But that isn't the nerdy part. My confession is that I do not believe I have ever had more than a 10 or 20 cent library fine that was my own. That is because I am anal. I have had larger fines than that but only because in high school I often let Amanda talk me into checking out books for her because she had either lost her wallet or her library card or had too big a fine on her own card to risk using it. I would let her check out books on my card and even though we patronized the library far more regularly than any normal 15 to 18 year old girls should, she always forgot to bring all of her books back and I would end up with a fine. I had to ban her from using my card. I think I also banned my sister from my card. I was the same way with Blockbuster. When fines showed up I knew they were from someone else not returning whatever they said they would return for me. Even without due dates on Netflix I am anal about returning those movies because I want to keep them flowing into my mail box. Like I said, I'm a total nerd.
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