Where has common decency gone?

[bigjimaz]

I just got back from the library. I go there to get movies. What can I say, they're free with the library card. Anyway, as I was looking over the selection, I hear two guys having a conversation as if they were in a crowded bar. Their voices were raised and they were laughing and telling dirty jokes. The assistant had to remind them where they were. Their reaction? They got pissed at her, grumbled something about her being a bitch and left.

Once I got the DVDs I wanted, (The Hunt for Red October and Cool Hand Luke) I stepped up to the desk and there was a woman there in a heated argument with the same librarian. It seems the lady still had outstanding books that were overdue and she wouldn't be allowed to take out any more until she brought them back and paid the late fees. You would have thought that the librarian was asking for her first-born child the way she was yelling and cursing. The worst thing was that the books she had out were due in Saturday so the late fee would have only been 50¢.

I swear, people these days.

[Finduilas]

It's gotten so bad that these days I'm almost afraid to tell people that they have fines, because more often they'll argue about them than just shut up and pay.

But then it makes me so happy when someone has a big fine, and I grit my teeth and tell them, and they hand over the money and admit that they should have returned their materials on time if they didn't want to pay! One woman said, "Hey, it's still cheaper than Blockbuster!"

So true.

[RedRoseSpiral]

I remember a few years ago at my local library they said that I had an over due book. It had happened a few times before. I always found it and returned it within a day or so. This time was different. The book they said I didn't return was one I was sure I had being as it was the only book I had returned at the time I had dropped it in the big metal book holder outside the library. I go back a few times and look for it on the shevles, never found it. My mom gets tired of getting over due notices in the mail, took me up there to pay for it.

There were several fees they were tacking on other than the price of the book. They wanted us to pay $25 for the book, $10 for late fees, and $15 for a restocking fee. As my mom was filling out the check, I went to the area the book should have been, and lo and behold, there it was. I grabbed the book and ran to the front desk and asked the librarian if they had already replaced the book. Looking prissy, she told me no. Then I showed what was in my hand. The look on her face was priceless.

It seemed I wasn't the only person to be told that a book wasn't turned in when it was. Some of the librarians weren't scanning books in and sending out notices in order to get more money to buy books. It safe to assume I no longer go to that library even after they moved to a better building and all that jazz.

[Finduilas]

Wow, if they were REALLY doing what you said, then that is NOT a library that I would EVER want to work at!!!

That said, I'll tell you that at my library, the scanner beeps the same whether it goes through properly or improperly. Someone who isn't watching properly could think that it was discharged when in actuality it didn't scan properly.
To prevent patrons like you, who had returned their books, from receiving an incorrect late fine, when we print out the late fees, we check on the shelves to make sure it isn't there. Of course, sometimes things can be misshelved or the person checking can do a shoddy job looking for them, which is how things happen sometimes. We then clear the fine, no harm, no foul.

If a librarian is actually intentionally not checking in books in order to assess a lost book fine, then they need to be reported to the director of the library. If the director knows and promotes this, then the library needs to be reported to whoever they report to, probably the state library or the main branch in a city. This is NOT APPROPRIATE and gives libraries a horrible reputation.

[RedRoseSpiral]

That practice is no longer going on. I'm not positive, but I think it was a mother daughter team that was doing the scam. The mother was head librarian or something and her teenage daughter got hired on. The mother was pissy that she wasn't getting the money she thought she should have been getting and they did that. They were both fired and I'm guessing charged with something. I was like 15-16 so didn't really care. All I cared about was getting the next book in the series.

[Boochan]

It's gotten so bad that these days I'm almost afraid to tell people that they have fines, because more often they'll argue about them than just shut up and pay..

Not a library or video rental store here, but customers who give us stuff to send away for repair incur Service Charges if their item was rejected (i.e if it was under warranty but the warranty didn't cover it, or the customer voided the warranty somehow). Many times we cop it on the chin and take the fee out of the stores takings ($20-50) because we have ended up in fights with some customers because they refuse to take responsibility for breaking their stuff.

[Plaidman]

I love libary. I go there alot. Free books? I mean hell yeah! Granted, I can't finish them alot of time, and then it turns out others want it, so I end up having to buy my own copy anyway, but yeah.

It was at a libary that I finally realized I worked too long in customer service. I caught two kids going into the bathroom with DVD cases, coming back out, putting the cases back. When I checked the case, no DVD. (This was before they started to lock them up). I told the clerk. Clerk went to them. Boys started to cry and hand over the attempted stolen items.

Stealing from a libary. I mean really....


On a side note on false returns, a while back I went to my local video renter. I wanted a DVD. I've had no problems renting before. However, suddenyl I had a DVD out on my name. Apperntly one I rented over a YEAR AGO was never returned. I remember very clearly returning that movie, because I ran barefooted to the store.

I tried to demand reasonablly to the clerk. Like, why I was never ONCE told beforehand said item was not returned, even though I've rented countless times afterwards. He didn't know. But I wasn't allowed to rent from there til I paid some hugemonus fee, and restocking fee.
You can tell I never did pay, though I can only rent from that place after many many fights. Seriously. What the hell. Something that was checked out a YEAR ago, and it only NOW comes up missing? What the helll?

[powerboy]

Plaidman, that sounds like what happened to me.

It was a few years back. I had rented a video game, and returned it the next day since it was crap to me. About 2 years later, when I was with my GF at the time had decided to rent a movie and stay in. Well that was when I found out about the game not being returned. I told them it was returned the next day. I was nice about it. But they wouldn't even check it in the system. I asked for a manager and it was the same one that helped me, when I brought in that game. He took off all the charges, and didn't understand how that could happen. Needless to say, I never went back. I still have an account, but I have HBO, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX . So I do not need to rent a movie.

[Emrld]

There was an article in today's Hints from Heloise (Dallas Morning News)
About how libraries have had to change with the times and the services they offer customers.
Most still have a quiet section but the rest of library doesn't really enforce the quiet while in building type rules.
They have the computer/ Internet areas, Children's story and activity times, movie rental etc. It isn't just about research papers anymore.

Of course I remember when they had group study rooms where you were allowed to talk to each other. It was along the sides of the section with encylopedias, microfich, periodicals etc. With the rest of the room being quiet zone.
Now that is the only quiet zone and the rest is talk in normal voice.

[ArcticChicken]

she wasn't getting the money she thought she should have been getting

Oh, trust me, they should have been getting the money. Libraries never have as much money as they need. But to steal from the patrons like that is particularly heinous.

On a side note:
I am so looking forward to the day they finally renovate the Philadelphia Free Library's main branch. That model looks so nice, and maybe they'll fianlly have room for some comfy chairs.

[Hello Kitty]

Many a time have I seen people LOUDLY talking/swearing in front of small children. Totally asinine. Some people have no class.

[GingerBiscuit]

Many a time have I seen people LOUDLY talking/swearing in front of small children. Totally asinine. Some people have no class.

Hmm, like my dad.
We had to install a swearbox for HIM because at 5 years old I made the comment that something 'really ****ed me off'.
Bless.
Didn't damage me though. Just words, albeit ones some people consider offensive.

[Emrld]

There is the kid that has started a no curssing club.
I think it is great. He has decided that he doesn't care to listen to what is considered to be crude language. He has that right.
I am upset by the adults that send e-mails full of foul language to him.
He isn't saying it should be illegal or outlawed. He is asking that people respect his wishes and not do it around him.
This is a kid in Jr High/ High School.
The sad thing is that the news turns around and plays the sound bytes with people bleeped out saying that it goes against their right to freedom of speech.
So we now have a wonderful catch 22. People have the right to say what they want. In everyday conversations it isn't like the TV or radio where if you don't like it you can turn it off. So what happens now?

[rae6684]

Where has common decency gone

Talking about stealing from the library - we had a dvd player in the kids area playing dvds - it wasnt that big - someone snipped the cord and walked out with it under their shirt or in their bag.
Louise

[Andara Bledin]

People have the right to say what they want. In everyday conversations it isn't like the TV or radio where if you don't like it you can turn it off. So what happens now?

Ah, but see, there is a certain point where it goes from free speech to verbal assault.

The problem is that the line is exceedingly fluid.

But then, free speech only applies to "public" places, and any private place (such as a business) can demand that anyone using "unacceptable" language either stop or be banned, so long as it doesn't tread on any protected status. And fully private places such as homes have complete and utter allowance to toss someone who won't follow their rules, no matter how silly those rules are.

^-.-^