Three Steps for What to Do When You Damage (or Lose) a Book You're Borrowing

Things happen. In my post on February 12, I talked about why loaning out your books is a controversial topic. Here is one of the scenarios I gave:

"Common courtesy is that you return the book in the condition it was loaned to you. Obvious, right? Sadly, although it's "obvious," this common courtesy is not always followed through with. Many readers have experienced situations where their books are returned with damage to some extent. Sometimes, it's accidental.... But more often than not, it's an insensitivity - if not full-on disrespect - to the fact that the book belongs to someone else."

That got me thinking. It is "common courtesy...that you return the book in the condition it was loaned to you." But, as I mentioned, things - and accidents - happen from time to time. A book gets damaged, and the actual act of the damage was out of your control. Additionally, it can also get lost. So, what do you do when an accident happens, and the book is damaged? Here are three steps for what you should do.

Step One: Admit it honestly, and don't try to come up with an excuse.

I think I speak for many readers by saying the following: don't lie to us if you damage or lose our books. Yes, we'll be upset. But we'll be more upset if you don't tell us and just return the book, or if you lie about it. And we'll be upset if we just never get our book back because it was lost.

Step Two: Offer to replace it.

Offering to replace it can be one f the nicest things you can do when you damage or lose our book. So simply offer to replace it. Whatever their answer is, respect it.

Step Three: If they ask you to replace it, just do it.

It's annoying when we, as readers, say "Yes, I'd appreciate it if you could replace my book" and you (as the person who loaned the book, fuss about it (especially after offering). But if we say you don't need to replace it, then that's fine.