I was thinking some more about HB 1308, Arlene’s bill for parental access to library records, and thought about an old Ian Underwood article that should be in the Grok archives and found in a search.
He discussed the difference between a beneficiary and a customer, using an example of giving money to a (grand) kid to purchase a bike. He explained how the future owner of the bike is the beneficiary, but the donor of the money to pay for the bike is the customer. Without rewriting his article, the take-home talking points were about who gets to decide certain things, like the bells and whistles and price tag.
When I read that, three situations came to mind. One of them is when a landlord hires a handyman or contractor to make repairs or improvements to the rental unit. The tenant is the beneficiary, and the landlord is the customer. As a tenant, I remember complaining to the management office about a contractor making a mess and not cleaning up after himself and another one doing low-quality work. If I complained to that contractor myself, I would be told to go pound sand because I wasn’t the one paying him. If I was a property owner, my recourse could be refusing to pay my balance until the problem is rectified.
Another example is when you order something online and free shipping is included, for whatever reason. You, the customer(of the goods being purchased), are NOT the customer of FedEx, UPS, USPS, or whatever 3rd party carrier is used. You are its beneficiary. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has spent countless moments (or whatever other embarrassing units of time) furious about lies and broken promises when the merchandise fails to arrive when it’s supposed to. Again, you, the consumer, can’t sanction that delivery company for doing a bad job, but Amazon, Chewy, or whoever the sender is can!
The 3rd example is you, the patient, and Blue Cross (or other 3rd party insurance). A cash patient is a customer and s/he can see any provider in any zip code that’s accepting new patients. As an insured patient, it’s the insurance company that is the customer, and you are the beneficiary. You don’t get to choose treatments, drugs, procedures, schedules, etc., that are outside its clinical policy bulletin. If you do, guess what? You either get a big bill from the provider or are refused by that provider up front (in an approval-required situation).
So this brings me to a 4th example, which is the library. It could be a school library or your local Anytown USA public library. Your kid (or someone else’s) is the beneficiary, and you are the customer. Your kid might want to check out a Nancy Friday book, but you disapprove, just like the kid with the cash gift might want the bike with the $1000 price tag, but you only gifted $200.
As it stands now, my guess is that parents can refuse to sign off on a library card for their kids, but that could be complicated and inconvenient for a variety of reasons that we all can think of. But with HB1308, parents would have an extra tool in their toolbox to keep a watchful eye on their kids’ library records. Of course, there are still other issues to be dealt with, such as what materials are available to kids, but remember that YOU, parent, taxpayer, or both, are the customer, and the customer is always right.
If you, unlike Nashua and Hollis, happen to have decent reps, you might consider telling them to vote against the committee recommendation and support HB1308 next time the House meets, which appears to be tomorrow! (Thursday, 2/22). Remember that you are their boss, and this is an election year. Contrary to what Nashua’s former BoE member Ray Guarino wants you to think, they work for you.
