Living On Borrowed Time

I work at a public library front desk. A patron is reading the sign we have posted about how overdue books will eventually get sent to collections.

Patron: “Do you actually send overdue books to collections?”

Me: “We do.”

Patron: “Has it happened?”

Me: “More than you’d think.”

He went quiet for a second; it looked like he was doing some kind of mental math.

Patron: “Hypothetically, how far back do the records go?”

I just looked at him.

Me: “Sir, is there something you’d like to return?”

Patron: “Hypothetically, if someone had a book, say, six months? Would that go to collections?”

Me: “That would, yes.”

The patron’s eyes go wide, and he rushes out. He comes back an hour later with a book in a plastic bag. He doesn’t make eye contact. I don’t ask. We both just move on.

When a book is returned, the whole thing is dropped pretty quickly, so I am sure he had nothing to worry about, but it makes me wonder; if he knew he had the book and it took the sign on our front desk to scare him into finally returning it, we need to print that bad boy in big bold capital letters and put it all over the library!