friends help: People owe you money. - Help.com

not worth civil court. that alone costs more than they owe, i think. on top of it, this is a very small town. i’d look like the bad guy. (not that i should care what people think but i do run a business and this being the small town it is, a lot depends on reputation and word of mouth.)

take them to court… is that what you would do?

i guess at this point they are avoiding me. the one guy came over for superbowl and didn’t mention the money so neither did i, though he was sitting on the lap of a big elephant. one of the two girls said she’d drop a check and the key off over the weekend (which she didn’t) and the other girl said straight out that she didn’t have the money but that she’d give it to me when she had it and slipped the key under the mat without telling me. i found it yesterday.

payment plans: they all agree to anything i throw out there but there is no follow through.

friends: the guy grew up with my husband and the one girl is a friend of my very good friend; i met the other girl through the first. their situations are no more difficult than mine (i have a business lease and a home mortgage- more at stake financially) but i have no choice but to be patient. they must value our friendship differently than i do though because i make it a point not to owe real people money. bank lenders & creditors are a different story but owing a real person with a real family leaves a bad taste in my mouth in either direction.

certain date or what? the utility bill was due on monday. i told them three weeks before it was due, and then four days before it was due. they know it’s due.

i’m more of a straight-forward kind of girl than a guilt-tripper, although i did call the guy and let him know that i’d just taken my kids to the dentist and because i don’t have insurance it cost me $450. the baby now needs to see a pediactric specialist for sedation because our regular dentist couldn’t get xrays so that’s going to cost another $200. the guy didn’t even call me back. no email, no text, no voicemail, nothing from the guy who stayed in our house the first month he was on the island -rent free!- until he could get a place of his own. he’s more of a guilt-tripper and when we do talk about it he tries to turn the tables on me about his rent or cable bill or what have you but if he can afford to buy weed every week, he can afford to pay me back.

the one girl pisses me off because she also turns the tables on me, making it seem like i’m making a big deal about it but i’m really not. i’m pretty mellow but i definitely address things. she’s the same girl who took my radio (and my yoga mat and something else small that i can’t recall at the moment) in a previous post. it’s not really the stuff- i can replace the stuff… but it’s MY stuff after all!

they’ve all agreed to pay it back… they just haven’t!

i’m such a pushover. anyone need to borrow money?

thanks for your empathy. i’m not going the legal route and i’m sure they know that. i’ll just have to cut my losses and be sure not to put myself in situations like these again.

oh, thanks!