Mardi Gross

I was emptying the return bins this morning, when suddenly I reached in to lift some books out and… ewwwwwww.

My hand was icky. The book was icky. It was all very, very icky.

God I hope that was toffee…

Suffice to say, a student (we know who you is) had decided to return their Social Sciences textbook (sorry AY, but it’s always social sciences) in a less than satisfactory state. It was covered in a sticky substance with an orangey-brown hue, resembling some sort of syrupy confection.

Although we couldn’t be sure it was toffee.

It could have been anything really.

Why anybody would think it acceptable to return a book in that condition is beyond me.

I’m not surprised that they used the self-service machine- they obviously couldn’t bring themselves to come to the issue desk. Actually, I must commend their use of the selfcheck machine; they even managed to scrape the barcode clean so that it would scan properly. Rather unfortunate for them though- by using the selfcheck machine correctly, it was extremely easy to identify them.

If only I could be a fly on their wall as they open the email informing them that they have been charged for their efforts. Or should that be my efforts for scrubbing the book clean?

The going rate for indeterminate goo is £5 by the way.