Confessions of a Careless Patron

One day, I was listening to the audio of this book, but had to go to work. I was at a critical point in the narrative. I picked up the copy we had at work (fortuitously checked in!) and read for a bit. I left it on my desk.
I haven't seen it since.

This was months ago. I renewed it and continued to look for it for quite a while. Things came to a head today when I finished a downloaded book and tried to log into the Jasmine Digital Library ... and it said I had an overdue book and it had cut off my access! This was almost as bad as the day it told me my card had expired and I was unable to get another book until the library opened the next day!

I came in and went to the circulation desk to try to settle my account (bringing my wallet with me) but it was busy and I ended up helping to check out books instead. When it calmed down I explained my problem to a co-worker who was loathe to charge me for the book.

"But I lost the book!" I said. She got the circulation manager. They looked at the charge: $25. They didn't want to charge me that. Aw, shhhhugar - I can pay it! Well, then they wouldn't charge me the processing fee (another $3 "hidden" charge). That was okay. Then they wanted to charge me half of the price. "But I lost the book!"

Eventually, they bargained me down to not paying at all. I feel terribly guilty about this and feel I haven't "learned my lesson." I'm sure I'm going to turn into a scoff-law and ne'er-do-well. I might even descend to "evil doer."

Also, the book won't be replaced! No one else will enjoy this Jasper Fforde foolishness! The shame! The shame of it all!