For some people, there’s nothing more sacred than their book collection.

And when you have some signed by famous authors, it’s rare to even lend them out to friends.

What would you do if someone took a few signed books without even asking and then refused to give them back?

The following story is about a woman who dealt with this exact scenario.

Let’s see what she did.

AITA for reporting my friend to his work and getting him fired because he refused to give my books back?

I (27f) recently had some friends over at my house for my birthday.

I have a book collection with some signed books by relatively famous authors. They’re not behind a locked shelf or anything, but they’re in my room.

After they left I noticed that few of my books were gone, and someone mentioned that “Jay” (28m) claimed I let him borrow the books.

I called Jay and yelled at him about lying and stealing my books.

He tried to talk his way out of the situation.

He tried to explain that he was taking them to his work (bookstore) to get them officially appraised, and it was supposed to be a surprise gift.

I chewed him off and asked him how that’s considered a “gift” and I wanted the books back.

He refused.

Enraged, she gave him an ultimatum.

I told him I will be calling the cops and his work if he doesn’t, and he still refused to bring them back.

I immediately called the cops to file a police report and waited until the morning to call his work.

I gave them all the details, including the case number, and said I’ll be coming with an officer to get my books back from Jay that day.

His work cooperated with me and promptly fired Jay after I got my books back.

Jay claims that I “went too far over a few books” and demands that I give him money until he finds another job.

AITA?

This would be very irritating. You should never take something that doesn’t belong to you without permission.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit weighed in on this situation.

This person really empathizes with her.

This commenter is not a fan of Jay.

This person brings up an excellent point.

This person offers the perfect advice.

Someone who steals from you is not your friend.

The moral here is to choose your friends wisely.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.