Lesson Learnt

i will never again have a monetary transaction with a friend. ever again. i've learnt it the hard way and i do not want to go through it again. i thought it was a win win situation when my friend needed to borrow my car for a few hours and i could do with some extra cash, all in all, we had a deal...

what was not so sweet was the returning of the car, in addition to not topping up the tank of petrol, i discovered a knock on my bumper where the paint was peeling off. what irked me the most was not the fact that the car was damaged but the fact that i was not informed. what was supposed to happen? that i would not notice it and when i finally do it'll be too late to claim that he did it. or was i supposed to be a good friend and say that it's okay, just a knock, nothing too serious except that the area that's damange has the paint peeling off and is about the size of a 5 dollar bill. furthermore, everyone can see it when they're 10m away from my car in the dark. with street lamps provding the only source of lighting. am i supposed to ignore that fact.

gone are the days when i had a healthy bank balance, the fucking trip to the usa has bled me dry and i do not feel good asking my parents for money. 2 over years in the army and having 1 sister married off makes me question myself sometimes when i ask my parents for money. hell people are working and studying at the age of 22. i'm just enjoying life. when i told him the cost of the repairs some fucking retarded part of me said i'll spilt it half half with him cause there were already some scratches there... wtf. and consider the trouble i would have to go thru, driving there, not being able to use the car when they were repairing it. he should thank his lucky stars that he did not go to a car rental company. i'm pretty sure he would pay more than $100.

but people being people, he claimed that someone banged him when he had already parked his car and he wasnt at fault. but he would be magmanious and pay it still (somehow everyone thinks' they're the good guy. i do and i certainly think he does). he wanted a receipt before he'll pay me. that set me off. i told him he could take the car to repair and he could pay1st and then i would pay him back. that is if he thinks that it's so fun to bring a car down to a workshop, take a train home and go down a few days later to take the car... no it's not fun and no i do not want to do it. i wish i could just take the car back and everything was as if should be, saving me and everyone else the fucking trouble.

and in case he thinks i'm out to cheat him, i could always ask for an inflated receipt, it's not unheard of in the singapore car repair market, i've always heard of stories where they inflate the repairs of a car and then spilt the profit. and i'm sure my mechanics are already ripping me off and i can only imagine what they would say should i not already know them.

anyway, he refused to repair the car and i had to do it. he gave up asking for a receipt once i told him that it was my car and up to my fucking discretion to repair or not to repair the car. regardless of the fact that he had compensated me for the damage done to my car. so all in all i'm gonna get back some cash for the damage done to my car...

it's the emotional turmoil that hurts, not like it's ripping me apart but i'm sure for those of you who have ever dealt with reasonable amounts of money with friends know what i mean. it's just plain fucking not nice to ask for money from a friend. it's very hard to ask them back for money. and i hate that feeling. i would probably feel no qualms about ripping a stranger off but when they're friends' the whole rule of thumb changes and i hate that.