I don't think I've ever borrowed more than a fiver from anyone other than my parents (or Financial Services Authority approved lenders). Even then it's been in dire emergencies like if I've forgotten my wallet. I would happily reciprocate if someone else was in the same pickle.
I felt guilt all weekend the other week because I forgot to give someone all of their change following a Friday morning bacon butty run. I returned said quid first thing Monday before I'd even taken my coat off and the woman in question thanked me because she'd completely forgotten.
I'm reminded of a tale told to me by my dad. He wanted to borrow a ladder and a bloke he knew a few doors down had one. The man in question was a peculiar individual, when I was a bit older he used to drive an old ambulance and he wore worn out old work suits to do DIY and gardening. So he'd be there in a suit, an old t-shirt and jesus sandals digging up spuds. I went to school with one of his kids who always had a funny smell about him.
My dad enquired about borrowing said ladders and got the response "Eeeh Alec, neither a borrower or a lender be" (The eeeh bit is how we all talk up here.) My dad was about to tell him to go **** himself then or something similar (he could be quite coarse and blunt my dad). But the man had a plan. "What we'll do" he said "is we'll have an agreement. I'll sell you my ladders for 5p (or 5d or half a sixpence or something. It was a long time ago). When you've done with them, you can sell them back to me for 5p". Personally I'd have been tempted to give him the 5p, take the ladders, then sell them in the classifieds of the Heywood Advertiser but may dad stuck to the agreement.
The moral of the story is this:
a) neither a borrower or a lender be;
b) if you must be a lender, get some bloody security from them like a pawnshop would.
Twice i've lent money, only once did i get anything back
Fortunately the borrower with no morals only owes a tenner and he's no mate anymore, decided at the time he wouldn't be borrowing anything more in future
It seems to me that its the people who are poor with money that are always asking to borrow it
I have never lent anyone any money and never failed to get that money back.
Nor have I ever borrowed any money and never not given it back.
To achieve this I never lend or borrow.
(kids excluded from this and I never expect it back).
TBH I hate lending stuff, a fellow driver borrowed a map book (remember them) and then covered it in high lighter, never again....
except in another company I did the same, this time when I asked for it back a week later he told me he had left it in the drivers room the same day.
Then last week a fellow driver asked if I had a *** lighter he could borrow, I lent him the one I use in the car, asked for it back the following day, the reply was "it's probably at home now mate".
Once upon a time, long long ago, I was half way to saving up for a car and lent the money to a friend on the understanding he'd pay me back in one year. He did, in full, and on the dot.
Almost as long ago, I needed cash to help an elderly relative. An in-law lent me a thousand on the understanding I'd pay it back in two years. I did, in full, and on the dot.
Would I lend or borrow again? Depends entirely on who the other person is. Some you trust, most you don't.
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