When you do something nice for someone

[joe hx]

and then they EXPECT it every time.

for those in retails, it's those customers who say "well i got a discount last time!" or "they didn't charge me last time!" (really? you want to pay for it now?)

when i worked at the autoshop, we had various people who would take decent tires from our used tire piles (we were paying to get rid of them, so it actually saved us money) and we called them "tire rats"

anyways, there was one tire rat who'd i'd take tires that needed to go out to him when he got there. (he was the only one that didn't make a mess of our tire piles) sometimes, though, we'd be busy so i couldn't do that. he's still expect me to do it. of course, i'd just ignore him until he went away

[Boozy]

The lesson here is to never do anything nice for anyone.

I'm only half kidding. Customers are bastards.

[blas87]

This is why, after being trampled on a lot when I was younger, whenever I DO do something halfway nice, I make sure to note the person's reactions....I've gotten pretty good at judging who is going to try to use me and who just really needed a ride just this one time.

[protege]

Or...how about this? You do something nice for someone, and then they bitch about it.

Case in point--my father's been having problems with his computer. Granted, it's a POS, but still. We'd "retired" some of our older computers at work. Nothing really wrong with them, but we tend to get new ones every few years. So, I was given a few to play with. Did I really need another pair of computers? Nope. But, I thought I'd rebuild one, and give it to my father.

I brought the thing home, removed our proprietary database software, etc. and then dropped it off as his house. I warned him that the hard drive was a bit small (less than 50GB) and that he might want to upgrade the RAM a bit.

No sooner do I do that, when he starts bitching about having to spend money on it...when for X amount, he could buy a new one. (Keep in mind that he'd bitched about the *cost* of a new one...which is why I did this in the first place!) Sick of this, I actually took the rebuilt computer back, upgraded it myself, and now have a second one to play with

You try to do something nice, and he had to bitch

[Pedersen]

I've got something similar to protege's story. Was helping a friend of mine many years ago. This would be almost 20 years by now, actually.

Anyway, we were working on his computer. He'd asked for my help, I had come over to do what I could. We got to a bit of a hangup. He got progressively more snippy, and finally pulled out the "Who spends more time doing things with the computer?" line.

I didn't say a word. Packed my stuff, and went home. He went to intercept me as I started to drive away. I went around him. He called me at home. Seems that he couldn't get back to his computer due to a startup program that I'd installed (and he requested). Helped him disable it. He started to say something, I hung up the phone.

A while later, he came into the store I worked at. I refused to help him, made someone else do it. I've not spoken to him since that night. He wants to pull that sort of shit, let him do it to someone else.

[BlaqueKatt]

I've gotten pretty good at judging who is going to try to use me and who just really needed a ride just this one time.

Scary thought at my last job there was a "list" of people you helped out with a ride and people you didn't-one expected it daily because she had "health problems", bitched if you were late/she had to "rush" to get ready because she overslept/wanted to leave while she was still working(she often stayed late)-didn't offer gas money etc. Me on the other hand, asked at least a week in advance, asked again the day before to make sure nothing had come up for the person who agreed(I took the bus, and knew when the schedule was wonky), gave $10-$20 for gas, and only asked people I knew lived within 5 blocks of me-guess who was on the good list and had ride offers every "holiday" and who couldn't figure out why no one would give her a ride?

Did I mention she lived 2 blocks from me, and the person she complained about expecting her to be ready on time lived across town.

Heck one co-worker actually told me she felt guilty not giving me a ride because her daycare was a half mile from where I lived and if she got up 20 minutes early she could give me a ride every day. I asked her why she felt she was responsible for another adult's transportation to/from work, as I felt my transportation was my issue and I'd rather not have to depend on someone else, as it didn't feel right to me-she felt better.

[powerboy]

I will give a ride to just my ghost group. Atleast they offer to pay for gas or offer to buy lunch or dinner.

[blas87]

I still owe some of my coworkers rides from when I didn't have a car....so whenever they end up in a bind, they know I'll be more than happy to come get them.

[Flyndaran]

Since I don't have a car, I doubt many would ask for a piggyback ride.
Yay poverty?
If only everyone didn't ask for my help moving heavy junk.
Why must I be such a strong manly couch potato?