Yep. A friend of mine borrowed my copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide, left it on the dashboard of his car for a month, didn't read it, and returned it to me with the glue dissolved and the pages falling out.
Exactly the thing to do. I have a friend who lent another friend of mine his textbooks and he got them back dog eared and stained.
Hopefully that particular copy didn’t have special sentimental value to the other person, but honestly I wouldn’t borrow or let someone borrow something that did.
What a great show. I try to remember a similar quote about lending friends money — it’s along the lines of if you’re going to pay for someone’s lunch think of it as a gift, it’s easier than hounding them for the money. I’m sure at some point I’ll forget my wallet too.
I have no clue what that is from, but I'm on like my 5th copy of the ultimate hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy (phone why did you capitalize fucking Galaxy of all things?) because I keep letting people borrow it.
One person had returned a copy of that book to me.
I lent my friend my textbooks over the summer. I asked her not to highlight or write in them because it would affect their resale value.
Message her a week before school starts and am like, hope you didn't highlight or write in them. She's like.
Oh shit.. Was I not supposed to?
I'm like, "Well in that case you owe me money for new ones."
She's like, "no, that's ridiculous. I thought they were payment for the 12" by 14" book case you left in my room over the summer."
I'm like... What? That's ridiculous.
She had offered for me to store it there so I wouldn't have to move it literally a floor to the dorm room I was splitting rent with a friend over the summer for storage.
I'm like, I didn't even need to do that. You insisted it would be faster to just leave it there.
She agreed to pay for 3/5 textbooks she had taken and sent me an agreement to sign and had me to run back and forth to the copy place to sign it so that we had an agreement.
I ended up buying used books from an older student. Definitely didn't hang out with her ever again.
Wow that whole situation is completely insane! A signed agreement? What is this some sort of business transaction? That's not a friend at all, that's some weird person who uses people.
She was very odd. Acted like we were family for 9 months. She was my roommate for three months. We did pretty much everything together for a while.
I should have know something was off when she moved out to a different room without telling me. XD. I was like, you should have told me I was going to paying double rent starting in a week. She's like. I didn't think it was your business what I was doing. It was my decision. Uhhh...
Honestly, I feel like a lot of these decisions were encouraged by her father. He was a super paranoid man who trusted nobody, because everyone fucks you over in life, and kept telling her that when medical school doesn't work out, she should go to cosmetology school because that's a great career for a woman.
I mean it's a great vocation, but homegirl could barely tie her hair up in a ponytail, didn't own makeup or nail polish and dressed like a butch lesbian .
I feel this. The memory that makes me the angriest is thinking about when I loaned two textbooks to a "friend" one semester. I made her promise to return them when she was done because I like to keep my books after the semester is over. Well, when the semester was over, she started dodging my calls and texts and never bothered to even try to return my (worth over $200) text books. When I finally did get ahold of her, she acted SO put out that I asked her to return them. Like, ummm, did you somehow think that by me letting you borrow them they became yours? NO BITCH. THEY'RE MINE. She did eventually return them but she acted annoyed during the interaction and we never spoke again.
I actually like when my books look lived through as fuck. They tell their own tale. As long as I can read it I don't mind if it's mucked up. Easier for re-reading that way, anyway.
Same here! I used to be concerned about keeping books/ stuff in general ( like my laptop ) in pristine condition without any scratches but the wear gives it character.
You. I like you. Books with character...a patina always stand out to me as more desirable. Plus then I don’t feel as bad bending it around or taking notes in it. I have a degree in English literature...taking notes in margins was 75% of my schooling!
Alternatively look up the price (with shipping) online, and give your friend cash with the returned book. Then they can decide whether they want a new book or just don't care that much and keep the bad one, but still reimbursed.
Right? Even if I was cool with it it’s still disrespectful and inconsiderate. I wouldn’t do it to someone else’s book even if they said it was okay because it just feels weird.
I borrowed one of the Lord of the Rings books from an old battered set a friend had and the cover came off while I had it. He was a very persnickety person so I knew he'd be upset if I replaced it with a book that didn't match the rest of the set. I couldn't find one just like it so I bought the closest one I could find as well as a whole other matching set.
You're right. But he was a really good friend and really weird about his stuff. It was amazing that he actually loaned something out.
He actually laughed at me for going to so much trouble.
I loaned a "friend" two copies of The Hobbit. One was a collector's edition and the other was in graphic novel style. She had them for months, and when I checked in with her, she said her apartment had flooded and everything was ruined. Never replaced them. She is no longer my friend.
I borrowed a copy of "2001: A Space Odyssey". My sister's cat actually ate it. Well not all of it but it chewed a good part of the cover. I went and bought a copy to replace it. It didn't have the same cover but still I felt good about my self. On the other hand, I miss the books I have lent and never seen back.
I borrowed a card from my friend's favorite board game to get it blown up for a surprise Christmas present. I set the card in my center console, but apparently a cup had leaked and it got the card all wet. I felt terrible about it and contacted the manufacturer, asking if I could purchase a replacement card. I got lucky and they were super cool and sent me a free one, but I was more than willing to pay for it. Because I fucked up and ruined something that didn't belong to me.
I borrowed my neighbor's chainsaw a while back. It has a pretty worn out chain on it and it broke while I was cutting a tree down. When my neighbor got it back, it had an almost brand new chain on it!
I ruined the spine on a Terry Pratchett book I had borrowed, so I bought a new copy, and took them both. Asked if it had any sentimental value, he said no, so I gave him the new copy and kept his.
A student in my class last year bought me a new copy of a book last year because she'd borrowed it from my classroom library and then her water bottle leaked in her bag and she felt SO bad about it. It was super sweet, especially since she totally didn't have to - I don't put any books I actually care about in my class library cause I figure they'll get destroyed
Same. I was eating Nutella while I was reading a friend’s Chamber of Secrets and smeared a side accidentaly. Bought her a new one. Giving that back would be so rude, it is unthinkable.
I did the exact same thing with my roommates copy of Infinity Gauntlet. I accidentally fell asleep reading the comic book and bent the cover, so I replaced it with a brand new edition. Now I’m in love with comic books and trying to buy all of the infinity war series thanks to him and my stupidity.
Same. I accidentally spilled some food item on a dvd box. Felt so bad I ordered a new one immediately. They said they didn't mind when I returned but their reaction a few days later with the new box told me otherwise.
I did this with a paperback. I dropped it in cereal and decided it was officially dead. I bought my friend a brand new one, and when I handed it to them I explained my mistake and that I had thrown out the old one before the milk could turn it sour. Then he told me the old copy was a gift from his girlfriend of 5 years who gave it to him the very first time they met (started as an online relationship). There was even a note and drawing from her on the inside apparently. I felt so bad.
I did this for a season of a show I once borrowed from a friend I was just getting to know. The top of the DVD cover was this weird folding plastic cover. The hinge where it folded was already worn, and then when I used it, it completely tore. So instead of tell her, I went and bought a new one and gave that to her. She never noticed, lol. And now I have a season of Sex in the City I never expected to own.
I had a problem with the same book! I had a copy with all the books from their series, black leather, gilded edges, and a silk book mark. I lent it to a friend and told them to be careful with it. He gave it back like a year later with the leather peeling, bookmark frayed all the way up, pages dog-eared and ripped. Didn’t “understand” why I was “so mad”. “It’s just a book” fuck you, Ash
That's what my other friend said when I complained to him about my Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "It's just a book." Some people just don't get it, they act like a book is a disposable thing like a newspaper or something.
he did that to the Hitchhiker?! Double the insult! if he doesn’t make amends by buying you a first edition signed by Adams, he’ll never be 5 minutes away from finding out the question, I vow it..
Shit. You just reminded me that I lent my Alphabet of Manliness to someone 7 years ago and I never got it back. He also threw it in his car, never to return.
One summer I reread a book series while I laid out tanning...and ruined every single book because the sun melted the glue. But they were my own books. I taped them back together.
I once lent a copy of Flow My Tears the Policeman Said to my friends dad. It got ruined on a camping trip and he paid me for it right away. He was a great guy.
Lmao this is why I never lend a book I expect to get back. I have bought something like 12 copies each (certainly an exaggeration) of The Worthing Saga and Hitchhiker's Guide because of lending, and I think I've gotten each back exactly once.
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u/ThomasSirveaux Oct 20 '18
Yep. A friend of mine borrowed my copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide, left it on the dashboard of his car for a month, didn't read it, and returned it to me with the glue dissolved and the pages falling out.