Brochure Brouhaha

I love to collect travel guides or brochures of places and cities. I collect them at the MATTA Fair, and at hotels, restaurants and tourist information centres in cities that I visit. I pore through them, read the facts of the place, study the maps, make a note of the places I should visit and compare the recommended sites against those in my own list. I would study them when I sit down for meals and when I get back to my room and do so until I depart from the city. And I keep them all, I never ever throw any brochure away. To me, they form a form of souvenir in their own right and when I get home from my trip, I store them away either for future use/reference or to be lent to anyone who plans to visit the city. They have a sentimental value to me.

I have had three occasions to date where the borrower took so long to return back my brochures. I just don’t understand this. They are my brochures and when I lend them out, I specifically inform that I want them back (unless if I have multiple copies of the same brochure which I sometimes do). And I expect to receive them in the form I lent them out. Surely that’s not too much to expect? Surely it’s only reasonable on my part to expect my brochures to be returned to me intact? I mean, I don’t tear them up or crumple them or fold them the wrong way so surely I am entitled to expect the same treatment from those who borrow them? And surely it’s not wrong to expect some courtesy back? When I agree to lend out my brochures either upon request or voluntarily, I try to produce them promptly so the borrower will have time to study the brochures. I expect to be accorded the same courtesy from the borrower. So why do some people take so damn long to return my brochures??? So much so sometimes I feel like I have to beg to have my brochures back?? When you want the brochures, you want them in a hurry but you take so long to return them. Look, they may not mean anything to you but they mean a lot to me – otherwise why would I bother collecting them in the first place anyway?

I have a good mind never to lend out my brochures to anyone again. Spare me this bullshit already. How many times do I need to send reminders to be reunited with my brochures? How long do you need to take to return my brochures? Even libraries have a due date when you need to return the book(s) you borrow and sure I don’t run a library but what makes you think my brochures are on an extended loan period? This is getting so frustrating and annoying that, yes, I have to blog about it.

Of course there are also other people who appreciate the brochures so much that they even buy souvenirs for me and I really appreciate their gesture and thoughtfulness. I never asked for the souvenirs but would not refuse them.

I just want my brochures back.