People mooching your stuff

[Sliver]

Getting a little sick of moochers these days. I'll give you a couple of examples of what I'm talking aboot:

1. Hey what are you doing this weekend? Can you bring your work truck home and help me with a super time-consuming, grueling project because I'm too cheap and lazy to pay for delivery and set up on the new stupid thing I bought?

2. Facebook status updates - "Anybody have any x,y or z I can borrow for a few days?" knowing full well I'm the guy with x, y and z.

I'm fine if you do one of the above once or twice a year, but it seems to be the same chronic moochers that always want to borrow my stuff. Buy your own FFS. Now I just say no. I don't even make up an excuse. Can you do this for me? Negative, I have my own crap to worry about.

So I guess the questions are, what is the difference between a moocher and somebody who is simply borrowing your stuff/time, and where is the line? Also, anybody else getting bugged by mooching lately?

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Hey Sliver, that's a pretty good topic and I'm sure you'll get many thanks.

Thing is, I'm running a little low on thanks these days.
Mind if I ask that anyone who would have thanked you send it my way instead?

[Sliver]

There you go buddy.

[Coach]

I think, unless your an overly sensitive person, that if someone is borrowing your stuff enough that its pissing you off, they're probably a mooch.

Although personally I couldn't care less if people borrow my stuff. As long as I'm not using it and bring it back in similar condition they can borrow whatever they want.

[CaptainCrunch]

If its pissing you off, offer a trade instead. You want to borrow my truck for the weekend, send your sweet wife over to my place as collateral, maybe while she's there we can lay some carpet.

[underGRADFlame]

In before someone mentions extension cords!

[HPLovecraft]

Obligatory 1st world problems reference here.

[mykalberta]

The thing with moochers its a pattern of cascading cheapness. The only way to solve it is to say NO so good on you. They could easily go rent a truck and whatever else they needed for their project instead of mooching.

The game comes in weighing that with the friendship level, if they are secondary or tertiary friends I have no issues saying no and not giving a reason other than saying I am busy, what is keeping me busy on this particular weekend can be very fluid, from a BoB marathon I just decided 5 seconds ago to watch to something actually important.

Its primary friends where this becomes more of an issue, but with those people you would know of their epic cheapness ahead of time and if you are still friends with them then you have learned to live with them.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by sliver

there you go buddy.

enabler!

[Travis Munroe]

Rule of thumb for the couple times a year I borrow a buddies truck is
A) only use when he 100% doesn't need it nor might need it ( even if it's at 11pm )
B) I fill the tank. He says it's going overboard however I would have sent x$ on renting a truck and gas so filling it still saves me some $

[Sainters7]

I don't have a problem at all with lending buddies stuff as long as they return it in a timely fashion. I can't stand when a buddy will keep something so long to the point where you have to start hounding them for it, such a dick move.

Waiting that long only increases the probability that you'll forget you even have it, and thus lose it. Plus after awhile I'll probably even forget I lent it out and not know what the hell happened to it. A couple guys I know here in Edmonton are terrible for this, to the point where I had to cut them off from even borrowing DVD's. Feel like I'm buddies with Kramer.

Borrow it, enjoy it, return it, it ain't hard. Even if you are from Edmonton.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

Rule of thumb for the couple times a year I borrow a buddies truck is
A) only use when he 100% doesn't need it nor might need it ( even if it's at 11pm )
B) I fill the tank. He says it's going overboard however I would have sent x$ on renting a truck and gas so filling it still saves me some $

And you are the type of guy no one minds lending his truck too. It is the d-bags that return it on fumes that don't get a second chance.

[4X4]

I'm so sick of helping people move. And it's never just my manpower or my truck, it's both.

[robocop]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If its pissing you off, offer a trade instead. You want to borrow my truck for the weekend, send your sweet wife over to my place as collateral, maybe while she's there we can lay some carpet

This! If anyone ever wants to borrow something ask for something of equal or greater value as collateral. If they want to burden you with their needs it is your right to demand something in return. I've been ripped off before and will never lend anyone anything worth more than 100$ unless they give me collateral. If someone wants your truck, tell them to leave their car with keys with you and they get it back when the truck is back unharmed filled with gas. This might seem a little uptight but a lot of decent people are very irresponsible and if they can't handle giving collateral they should not be trusted with your stuff.

[stang]

Last time we moved, we figured out the cost of renting a u-haul and gas plus pizza and beer for my friends. VS. Getting professional movers. It was like $50 more for the movers, and they were done in 3 hours. I will never ask my friends to help me move again.

[Rathji]

I am actually on the somewhat reverse end of this problem right now.

A few months ago my car died, and I was looking at buying a cheap one to get me through the last year of school. My father in law insisted that he loan me a minivan for the year, if I just deal with registration and a minor problem with the wiring for the ignition. So we get it registered and bring it into town for my mechanic to look at it, and turns out the entire starter is toast and needs to be replaced. I am in for about $450 at this point, but it still much cheaper than a car so I can't complain.

Fast forward to 1 month ago - he is going out of town for some business and asks us if we can deal with being without the van for a week or so until he gets back. Of course, I gladly agree, and my wife spends pretty much an entire day driving to get him the van.

As of today, he still hasn't brought us the van back, because he loaned it to another one of his kids. I am kinda stuck because can't go buy another vehicle because I shelled out the money to get his van on the road.

[Pacem]

First thought is the episode of Parks and Rec where they help Tom move out of his house.

I see your point and i'll counter point.

I hate people that jump up and constantly offer to do #### and then later on all they do is bitch about how they are always getting used.

I have 2 friends like this and it drives me insane!

1 friend has a truck. Is constantly doing stuff for other people, constantly bitching about it. So I never want to ask him to use a truck to do anything. Then as the years go by, i'm there when he offers to do things for people. So I made the mistake of taking him up on 2 offers. Two months later im getting sat down by my wife explaing to me why he is upset at me. His wife and my wife are best friends. I'll never ask for a thing from him again and i'll never ever make the mistake of taking him up on any of his offers. I rarely even talk to him now. Being sat down by my wife and told this, made me think I was part of some circle of female friends in high school. To express my gratitude for the help he has given me i'd love to buy him a new purse for xmas, but see'ing as his wife and mine are best friends I don't think that it would go over that well.

The second guy constantly bitches about how people constantly mooch drinks off of him. He got a good paying job a couple years ago that sees him get alot of out of town pay. This is when the bitching started. He's a single guy and i'm married so I don't get to go out and see him that often. He still likes the bar scene. So when I do go out with him I have to get into an argument with him in order to pay for my own tab. He's just so ignorant and insistant on paying for peoples drinks that I have no sympathy when he bitches.

Thats my rant... haha

As for people borrowing stuff off me, I have no problem with it. Just don't lose my #### or break it. Moving is usually the most popular and if I don't have plans I have no problem doing it and will even provide my own beer, you just MUST feed me.

[Misterpants]

Originally Posted by stang

Last time we moved, we figured out the cost of renting a u-haul and gas plus pizza and beer for my friends. VS. Getting professional movers. It was like $50 more for the movers, and they were done in 3 hours. I will never ask my friends to help me move again.

For truth. Those guys work like robots. By the time your friends start jack-a-ninnying around and take their first slurpee break, those dudes are finished and on their way. From the experiences I've had, those movers are mostly super hard workers. The career ones likely have the knees and backs of a ninety-year old, but it's nothing a bunch of Aleve can't cure, right?

[squiggs96]

I will never help anyone move, but I will help people stay put. I just go to their house and make sure they don't load stuff into a truck.

[Reaper]

A friend will help you move. A best friend will help you move a body.