Suspended

I try to be a good citizen.

So imagine my dismay-nay, shock! when the Seattle Public Library (SPL) temporarily suspended my card.

A few weeks ago, my improv group was practicing at the Magnolia SPL branch, when I happened upon some "must reads" on the Peak Picks shelf. For those of you who don't know, Peak Picks is a stack of the most popular new releases that you can check out for two weeks with no wait, but you can't renew them. I picked up the latest Matt Haig book, The Life Impossible. I loved The Midnight Library, and was looking forward to this one. I didn't finish it in two weeks, so I kept it. I am trying not to buy (as many) books because I don't have room for many more. I prefer reading paper books over e-readers, unless it is a thriller or shlockly mystery.

When I didn't return the book, I figured I'd just pay the fines, no problem. This, of course, is not in the spirit of Peak Picks. I should have returned it.

Then the books were due, I'd get my daily email from SPL telling me I was a deadbeat. Fine. Let me finish the book. 

Then I thought about the Bureaucracy. Does the Bureaucracy care that I don't return the book on time? No. The nameless, faceless Bureaucracy doesn't care. I know people might be waiting, but I'm not going to keep it forever. 

Then the emails got grouchier! "Your account will be suspended," SPL told me last week.

Damn, SPL. I haven't had the books that long. 

Today, my account was suspended. I felt like such a jerk for not returning my books in a timely fashion. It is easier to avoid the shame of the anonymous SPL emails by buying books instead.

After work today, I went to the Central Library, tail between my legs, and returned my overdue books. I handed them directly to a librarian so my account could be restored. 

"Oh that happens to me all the time and I work here!" she said. Instead of shame, I was greeted like a sister. "Of course you should keep books past the due date! You are a reader, for god's sake!"

I told her I would settle my fines. I've paid so many library fines in my life that SPL should name a branch after me.

"We stopped fines five years ago," she said. "Now we just suspend people's accounts instead." I just figured my fines hadn't hit a max level where I needed to pay up.

So this is the new game. Instead of fines, I'll just get suspended. 

Sounds like a bargain.