"Oh, yes, I understand, sir. The thing is, though, this: What if, for example, you had borrowed a rare tape, one that couldn't easily be found on the public market. And let's say that you would really like to keep this tape. And say you called to find out about the punishment that would be exacted upon you had you returned this tape late, or not at all. If we told you the punishment, you might weigh the consequences against the utility you might get out of holding onto the tape, and, if you found that you would rather keep the tape and receive the punishment, we would lose some of our inventory, which we cannot allow. Therefore, we cannot tell you this information." "But I'm not even a customer of yours. I've never rented a tape from your store." "That may be true, sir, but we can't make exceptions. We just can't do that. It would be nonsensical, in fact, to do so, for what's the point of a rule if it's just going to be disregarded?" Theodore slammed the telephone receiver against the wall. "Good-bye!" he said, infuriated. "What is this insanity?" pleaded Theodore to himself. "I thought I lived in a normal world, one with logic, one with common sense, one with logical consequences to one's actions. This just is so... so... weird, so illogical, so nonsensical!" That evening, upon falling asleep, he had a dream. He was returning to some nondescript movie-rental outlet a movie that he had watched by himself the previous night. He walked into the store and handed the video-case to the young man behind the counter. The young man opened the box, looked at the tape, looked at Theodore, and said, "Sir, thank you for returning the tape by the deadline, but you didn't rewind it. It clearly says that you're supposed to rewind the tape. I'm sorry, sir, but we are going to have to expropriate all of your possessions. If you would prefer, you can step into the manager's office to hand over your wallet and give the pertinent identification, residential, and banking information."
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