Friday, June 19, 2009

Not paying...pays off!

Back in the day, I got a library card. It was great. I loved going to the library and getting books, usually the next book in the Babysitter's Club or Mary Kate and Ashley series (yeah, I was a sophisticated child). Unfortunately, despite writing on the calender the due date of the books, I (well, my mom, because I couldn't drive!) could never get the books back to the library on time. And as a result, those late fees started racking up. At one point, probably in 4th or 5th grade, some nice librarian took the fines off, and I got a clean slate. And did that stay clean? No, no it did not. Before too long, that card had a pretty high debt on it, so instead of doing the responsible thing, and paying it off little by little, we all used my little brother's card. So from the time I was about 10, until a few days ago, I did not have a library card that was usable to my name. It was a very sad 9 years. Not really. Like I said, we had Michael's card. Anyways, point of this story. A few weeks ago, my mom wanted to see how much she owed on her card, and they told her they didn't have a record of her having a card. Imagine her excitement! After doing this, she suggested I go in and see if they still had me on record. So I went in a few days ago, went to the front desk and after seeing the librarian said "So, I was wondering if I could get a library card. I had one when I was like 5...But I haven't used it for a really long time and don't even know where it is." And she's like "Well, you should still be in here. Let me take a look." So she proceeded to look up my name, and finally she was like "I see here that you were on a payment plan" (they apparently take library debts seriously--at this point I was afraid she was gonna say how much I owed) "BUT it says that it has been resolved, so I'll report the card as lost and get you a new card!" I was so excited. Though, I felt a little bad for pretending like I didn't know about the fines..But whatever. I now have a clean library card! And now they send you email alerts the day before your books are due, so that should be no problem turning them in. Now, I just need some suggestions on books to read. The last time I went to that library, I was still in the children's section...The big adult section intimidated me. haha.

And just another short story about not paying late fees. As I mentioned before, I personally have funded the testing center at BYU with my late fees. Before I left, I had about 20 dollars left in fees there that I figure I'd pay once I got a job at home and starting raking in the money (yeah...about that). Well, a few weeks ago I decided to check my financial center on BYU...and imagine my delight when I saw those fee's had simply disappeared! Best day ever.

So moral of this story: Don't pay late fees! They eventually will go away (...even if it is ten years later).

5 comments:

Stephanie said...

Hi Katie,

I just wanted to tell you that I've been enjoying the music you've chosen for your blog today. I've just let it run in the background.

Stephanie

The Phantom Blogger said...

Thanks for coming by.

I checked out a book I had no intention of returning. I know eventually I'll have to pay for it, but I doubt they'll forgive a whole books worth of fees.

And my college still has me on the books for several unpaid parking tickets. (After all, they aren't real police, right?)

Mars said...

haha that's awesome! You're lucky. I wish my 2 $181.00 EACH camera speeding tickets would have gone away if I didn't pay them...who knows maybe they would have?

Babzanne Barker said...

Katie--this was one of your more amusing blogs! haha

AJ and Cindy said...

haha I wonder what happened to those fines? I have a few dollars on my library card in SLC and don't want to pay it at all, maybe I'll just wait a few years and see what happens!