LJ Idol - Week 30: Plan B

[notbatman]

LJ Idol - Week 30: Plan B OR Return to OZBack in the olden days, before Al Gore invented the internet, a person had to actually venture outside and go to a thing called a "library" when one wanted to read a book or research a given subject, generally for school

Comments

[risingtofall]

hahahaha that is awesome. I used to hate librarys because I felt like the old bitty librarians were always watching my every move. Probably because on a last minute histroy project I didn't have access to a copy machine so my solution was to just cut the pictuers out of the book and paste them to my posterboard project.

[notbatman]

Hah! You're a rotten human! I kinda dig that! :)

[alephz]

I always wanted to do something like that on the occasions that I racked up big bills with the library. But in the end, I usually ended up having to pay.

Of course, the fines themeselves weren't -quite- that high, but they sent me stuff like "Hey, you have our book. Give it back or we charge you for the replacement". The books themselves weren't textbooks, thank goodness.

'Cause, wow, that's a scary figure even as an adult.

[notbatman]

To be fair, I don't remember what the fine was, anymore, I just picked a number that would cause a 14 year-old to lose bowel function. Not... not that I did that, of course. It was absurdly high (in my opinion) but this might well be an exaggeration.

This worked so well, though, that I figured I was free and clear from all library obligations for all time so I thought nothing of lending my library card to a friend shortly afterward. Who racked up lesser, but still intimidating fines for overdue books. And then returned the goddamn books, sticking me with the fines, knowing full well that I had done this to avert a similar tragedy.

I've never really forgiven him for that.

[tartqueen]

Mike??

[mpuzzle]

*Whistles innocently*

Yeah... I spaced out and forgot about his scheme before returning the books.

[mstrobel]

Okay this is my favorite story ever of yours! XD Masterfully told, so real I could see it all -- maybe also so real because I can 100% relate because yes, I have done that too! On several occasions I might add ;) But never with as much style (or as huge a fine!) as you, I take my hat off :D

[notbatman]

Hah! Awesome! *high five* :D

The fine may well be exaggerated, I don't remember what it was exactly, just that it was completely appalling to me at 14. I still remember the instantaneous full-body sweat I got from reading the figure, but the amount itself is less clear. I just picked something for demonstration purposes.

Realistically, a fine of $6.50 would have been about as bad, at the time. :)

[mstrobel]

I once received a fine for $20 when I was about 18 or 19 which was horrifying -- and doubly so because I actually -had- returned that book!

[notbatman]

See? That's what you get for honesty! :)

[theafaye]

Balls of steel, my man, balls of steel. Absolutely love it! It's amazing what you can get away with if you have the guts to brazen it out.

[notbatman]

I still had that whole "I'm a teenager so I'm better than everyone else" thing going for me, at the time. Not that I ever grew out of that entirely, but I do think that completely believing something is going to work helps move things along.

[beautyofgrey]

Dude, I have always thought of doing this, but have never been brave enough. Now that they have alarms at our library, though, it would never work. If I walk in with an overdue book, it sets the damn things off!

[notbatman]

Alarms for bringing back their property? For real??? It's a brave new world, I guess...

This tale was from back in the olden days when you could still do prank calls, though. (Prank calling the operator, on the other hand, was never a good idea. They can just take over your phone and not give it back until you grovel for it! It's totally rude!)