Sonny and I have known each other for a little over 20 years. Last week his computer got fried by a lightning strike, and he asked me if I could take a look at it. He lives about three hours away from me, but I told him if he came down, I'd see what I could do. So we decided that he'd pack up his computer, bring it down, and we'd make a weekend out of it. On Thursday, he said he was having car trouble too, but he'd try to get his dad's car and come down on Saturday. He ended up showing up on Friday -- in his car. When he got here, he showed me what was wrong with his car... one of his brake pads had fallen off. When I saw what was wrong, I gave him shit for driving down here in his car -- especially considering that he was driving with bad brakes. I told him that fixing his car was more important than his computer, and we decided that we'd do the brakes instead.
On Saturday, we went to the parts store and got him his brake pads. When it was time to pay for the brake pads, Sonny's credit card was rejected, so I whipped out my card and paid for the pads. After getting the pads, we drove over to G-man's house and started working on Sonny's brakes, quickly finding out that the problem was worse than we had anticipated. Not only were the brake pads shot, the brake caliper was gone too. Considering that Sonny's credit card was rejected, he was naturally distressed about how we'd pay for the caliper. G-man and I told Sonny that we'd take care of the caliper too, and that he could pay us back whenever.
As you can imagine, this didn't sit too well with Sonny. He had neither the money nor the expertise needed to fix the problem with his car, and that stressed him out a bit. "Not to worry," we said. So we jumped into my truck, and after a few stops, we had the caliper we needed, and were back to working on the car in short order. Before long, the brakes were fixed.
Like most Americans, Sonny is pretty independant by nature, and he didn't like the idea of taking charity. But that's what friends are for. What goes around comes around. What Sonny seemed to forget is that since he's my friend, I'm emotionally invested in his well-being. It doesn't matter that I spent a few dollars and a few hours helping him out. What matters is that Sonny needed assistance, and since he's my friend, I'm going to do my best to give him whatever he needs. I know that one day I'll need help, and he'll be there for me. By the way, we never did get his computer fixed.
On Saturday, we went to the parts store and got him his brake pads. When it was time to pay for the brake pads, Sonny's credit card was rejected, so I whipped out my card and paid for the pads. After getting the pads, we drove over to G-man's house and started working on Sonny's brakes, quickly finding out that the problem was worse than we had anticipated. Not only were the brake pads shot, the brake caliper was gone too. Considering that Sonny's credit card was rejected, he was naturally distressed about how we'd pay for the caliper. G-man and I told Sonny that we'd take care of the caliper too, and that he could pay us back whenever.
As you can imagine, this didn't sit too well with Sonny. He had neither the money nor the expertise needed to fix the problem with his car, and that stressed him out a bit. "Not to worry," we said. So we jumped into my truck, and after a few stops, we had the caliper we needed, and were back to working on the car in short order. Before long, the brakes were fixed.
Like most Americans, Sonny is pretty independant by nature, and he didn't like the idea of taking charity. But that's what friends are for. What goes around comes around. What Sonny seemed to forget is that since he's my friend, I'm emotionally invested in his well-being. It doesn't matter that I spent a few dollars and a few hours helping him out. What matters is that Sonny needed assistance, and since he's my friend, I'm going to do my best to give him whatever he needs. I know that one day I'll need help, and he'll be there for me. By the way, we never did get his computer fixed.
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