I get sob stories. Yesterday I had two that bothered me. The first: "I have $80 in fines and I am a single mom with no income can you take care of my fines." I worked with this customer and reduced the fines because with a change of policy. Previously children's items checked out on adult fines had lower fines but when we changed our system over, the card rather than the item dictated the rate of fines. So I adjusted her fines on the children item as I do with most people that come to me with these fines. This left her fine well over the $10 threshold that allows you to use the library but manageable. Still it was clear that she thought that based on her being a single mom with no job and on assistance I should take care of the rest of her fine. But here is what rubs me, if I am on a limited income, I take care of what I am doing. The library is free as long as you are responsible. If you don't have the luxury of paying the fines for irresponsibility then BE RESPONSIBLE!
Second: I get a call from a man who tells me up front that he has contacted the Board of Supervisor's office and they sent him to the library. Then he explains that how he just lost his job and how this year his wife has been sick. Apparently, now he needs to use the library. I look at his account and he has some fines. And they are relatively manageable, so it is an easy fix to get him to work with him to get him under the $10 threshold. But at the same time I am thinking. These fees are from 18 months ago before your wife got sick and you lost your job. Only now are you thinking, I might want to use the library and you are asking me to forgive your irresponsibility. As one of the Assistance often says, "I would like to go to the electric company and say, you know I kept my house very nice and cool on hot days and now my bill is bigger than I want to pay, please reduce it."
I do understand circumstances and I do understand people being caught unaware of library fines--especially when there has been a change in policy like we have had.
I had one guy come into my office that was in his early 20's and explained that he had just gotten married when he got the notice saying he owed the library hundreds of dollars from 4 years ago. He explained that he was young, stupid and didn't know how to use the library. He wanted to know if there was any way I could work with him to get his bill paid. As it turned out the bulk of the fines were lost items that would be much cheaper to replace. He contacted me several times via phone to let me know that he was working on getting the items replaced was having a hard time with one thing. I gave him some alternatives--the item was a book on tape and we no longer collect them, so I asked him to find me an unabridged book on CD. He turned everything in. I worked with him some on the actual over due fines because it was clear that he was taking responsibility for being young and stupid. These are the people that I am inclined to work with.
I want to treat everyone one the same, if I can ethically and fairly reduce someone's fine then I will, e.g. doing an adjustment on an adult's card for children's books. But I feel that it is unethical for me to reduce fines just because someone comes to be with a sob story and does not want to pay library fine. If I give someone a reduced fine just because they come to me with their story, why don't I reduce everyone's fine?
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