Today's rant is brought to you courtesy of my library.

To begin, please note the time at which this e-mail was received:

Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 15:02:44 -0400

Now, the message concerned the recall of a book I had borrowed from the library, on a four-week loan, informing me that the book has been recalled. Fair enough, it happens from time to time that multiple people might want to look at the same book, even a book on real analysis from the MIT science library.
What really gets me, though, is the request for when they'd like the book back:

Please return the item by: 08/13/2004 04:05 PM

Yes, folks, that's right. They wanted the book back one hour after they e-mailed me, for a book out on a four-week loan (nominally; it was really a three-week loan, but that's beside the point).
And what would happen if I didn't get it back within an hour?

Please be aware that unreturned recalled items are subject to a special fine of two dollars per day.

Even more fun! A two-dollar fine just because I happened to be out of the office at the time. Fortunately, I did get the message at 3:30, so I didn't have to worry about the fines. But, as one might imagine, I was nonplussed by this. In this "automated age," we can do better than this, folks.