In a recent post on the subreddit ‘Mildly Infuriating,’ platform user The_Broken_Shutter revealed that his long-term friend started acting weirdly after borrowing money from him. The climax of the whole ordeal came when the Redditor finally asked him to pay him back, reminding us that trust is a fragile thing, especially when cash is involved.
This guy tried to go to a concert
Share icon Image credits: Aleksandr Popov / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Instead, he lost his best friend over just a few bucks
Share icon Image credits: Volodymyr Proskurovskyi / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Share icon Image credits: Onur Binay / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Share icon Image credits: Pixabay / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: The_Broken_Shutter
Maybe not as extreme, but similar situations are quite common
A 2019 survey from the US Federal Reserve showed that when faced with a hypothetical expense of $400 that they couldn’t cover straight away, the second most common approach people took was to borrow from a friend or family member (putting the charge on a credit card was the top option). However, as we just saw, introducing a financial layer to a relationship can make things weird. Experts think that lending money conflicts with societal taboos about discussing money, and introduces a power imbalance. This can potentially leave both parties feeling complex emotions like shame, embarrassment, and anger. “I think money is still a very intimate subject for a lot of people to talk about authentically,” said Maggie Baker, psychologist and financial therapist based in Pennsylvania, US. People may discuss it, but we generally don’t ask each other about our specific financial situations. “There’s this shroud over this whole topic of money, and how much you have, and how much you don’t have.” “If you loan somebody money, they’re indebted to you whether they recognize it or not – and then all of a sudden, you’ve got the power,” Baker added. There’s also a high degree of uncertainty for the lender because no matter how close you are to someone, just like the Redditor, you may have no idea how they are with money. Interestingly, Baker said that 9 times out of 10, the friend in the jam will not pay back the loan. So you have to be 100% OK with not getting the money back when you provide it, and judging by his post, the Redditor was. Only not his friend.
Many of those who have read the story think that the friend might be going through a rough patch
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