Not Yours? Then Don't Touch.

I had to learn the hard way how important it was to ask before borrowing. I remember one time I took a movie from our shelf to watch. I didn't think anything of it- it was just a DVD, and I knew I'd put it back when the movie was over. 

Not quite. 

The movie belonged to my roommate. It wasn't mine. In the moment, I didn't mean to be inconsiderate. But the thing was- I had forgotten to take the movie out of my laptop when it was over. The next day my roommate was looking for it, and got nervous because she couldn't find it. She texted me asking if I'd seen it and I told her what happened. She was pretty upset. My initial reaction was to be like, "Hey, it's just a DVD. I'm sorry. I didn't know." But it turns out the movie was actually a gift from her father. It had a lot of sentimental value. 

I had to go back and apologize. Not because the movie was broken, but because I had assumed it was fine I borrow it. I wasn't considerate of my roommate's possessions, and that wasn't ok. Imagine how bad I would have felt HAD something happened to the movie. 

So just a tip from someone who's messed this up. If it's not yours- don't touch. Or at the least, ask first. You'll avoid unnecessary confrontation and you'll be glad to have permission later.