What's a little money between friends?
A few months ago I generously loaned my credit card to a friend to help her get her car fixed. She was desperate and really in a bind. She is a recently divorced, single mother struggling to get her life back together again. Anyway, she took a few liberties with my credit card. Not only did she have the main item repaired on her car, she also had 2 tires replaced, an a/c service performed and an oil change done. She was upset that another maintenance item was not done.
When I read the receipt and total to her, she kind of gushed stating that she wanted to go ahead and do everything while she had the chance. I sighed and told her she had 90 days to pay the balance off with no interest. Ninety days was no problem, she replied.
Out of the $542 she owes me, I have seen $50 of it. What bothers me is not her slowness in paying me back. She has had some unexpected expenses come up. It has nothing to do with money at all. It is the way she treats me lately.
If she calls and leaves me a message she expects an immediate call back. If I take my time getting back to her, I have to endure a lecture of how annoyed she is with me for not calling her back right away. When I attempt to talk to her about my plans of buying a house, she tends to be un-supportive. The other day she called me at work upset about her phone service and demanding I get her a contact name and number to resolve her problems. I listened to her rant and rave for a while about the incompetency of my employer. Then when I was unable to help her she reluctantly ended our call.
Sometimes when she rants like that, I want to throw my generosity in her face. I don't though. The truth is because I would only be bringing up the money to shut her up. I know it is a sore spot with her, and it would be a way for me to knock her down a peg or two. Not exactly a way to treat friends now is it?
She has done a lot for me in the past, but lately our friendship has been very strained. Between her disapproval of my behavior, her inability to understand my likes & interests and the fact that I choose to ignore her instead of confronting her on things, has done nothing to improve matters. I am normally not one to avoid conflict. Although I tend not to fight or react to things I am dispassionate about.
Right now, I am not moved to preserve our friendship. And the scary thing is, I may not ever be.
When I read the receipt and total to her, she kind of gushed stating that she wanted to go ahead and do everything while she had the chance. I sighed and told her she had 90 days to pay the balance off with no interest. Ninety days was no problem, she replied.
Out of the $542 she owes me, I have seen $50 of it. What bothers me is not her slowness in paying me back. She has had some unexpected expenses come up. It has nothing to do with money at all. It is the way she treats me lately.
If she calls and leaves me a message she expects an immediate call back. If I take my time getting back to her, I have to endure a lecture of how annoyed she is with me for not calling her back right away. When I attempt to talk to her about my plans of buying a house, she tends to be un-supportive. The other day she called me at work upset about her phone service and demanding I get her a contact name and number to resolve her problems. I listened to her rant and rave for a while about the incompetency of my employer. Then when I was unable to help her she reluctantly ended our call.
Sometimes when she rants like that, I want to throw my generosity in her face. I don't though. The truth is because I would only be bringing up the money to shut her up. I know it is a sore spot with her, and it would be a way for me to knock her down a peg or two. Not exactly a way to treat friends now is it?
She has done a lot for me in the past, but lately our friendship has been very strained. Between her disapproval of my behavior, her inability to understand my likes & interests and the fact that I choose to ignore her instead of confronting her on things, has done nothing to improve matters. I am normally not one to avoid conflict. Although I tend not to fight or react to things I am dispassionate about.
Right now, I am not moved to preserve our friendship. And the scary thing is, I may not ever be.