Someone posted one of those 'isn't he wonderful?' posts on Nextdoor. Apparently some IT guy hooked up her printer and didn't charge her for it as sort of a favor and she just had to tell the world she got a freebie.
This is my answer.
You are doing NOBODY any favors by bringing the fact that someone threw you a freebie. Had you done it to me it would have been the LAST favor I ever did you. What you did here is open up a kind soul to having his good nature taken advantage of. I will be rather surprised if he doesn't get calls from people expecting him to work for them for little or nothing. When someone does you a favor be grateful and keep it to yourself. ASK ME HOW I KNOW THIS!
Needless to say I got crucified by all the little karens and my post reported and yada yada yada.
I'm Old School and when someone tosses me a bone I keep my damned mouth shut to protect my benefactor from being flooded by a bunch of people with their hand out asking for the same treatment.
If anybody asks I simply say I got a pretty good price on something and leave it at that just to prevent my benefactor from being flooded with the usual Free $hit Army battalion.
Needless to say, a lot of karens were mad at me because many of them are card carrying FSA members and/or nosy busybodies. If the shoe fits...
Back in the day when I was a one man small town contractor I did toss out a lot of bones but I always put a caveat on it that the recipient keep their damned mouth shut or the freebies would go away.
Actually most of the freebies I threw out were repaid in kind. Eventually I'd get a drink bought for me or some venison or halibut which was gratefully accepted. When I got repaid in kind I always kept quiet about it because it was nobody's business.
During that period of time I did do a lot of small pro bono things here and there. It helped build up a customer base and I did do a number of jobs on 'street credit' because the people I did work for always paid their bills.
If anyone asked what I was charging someone my reply was always "That's between us."
Actually I learned about big mouths as a youngster.
Once I was swimming at the pond and a little kid that didn't know how to swim jumped off of the 'dam' and went into a panic.
I simply reached down and grabbed his arm and hauled him back onto the dam with no bull$hit or fanfare and told him to go home.
I guess he told his mother because my mom got a call and afterwards told me the kid's mom was going to write the editor of the small town rag we had and tell everyone what a hero I was. I paled.
The first thing that came out of my mouth was "I should have let him drown. Call her and stop her and tell her to shut up about it."
"Oh, but...yada yada yada." she replied and I repeated myself. "Call her and tell her to keep quiet about it! I'm serious!"
More yada yada yada. No help, either.
About 15 minutes later my dad walked in. I took one look at him and pointed at him and then pointed down hard. It was the signal he used on me to tell me to meet him in the basement NOW.
His eyes widened. He knew I had never used the signal on him.
We went downstairs and I pled my case and pointed out that my classmates would have a field day with this and torment the hell out of me. Dad looked at me and said, "I'll handle this immediately."
I was in the other room and only heard part of the conversation. "Know what he said? He said he should have let your son drown. If this hits the paper I know my son. When he gets tormented by his classmates over this he IS going to retaliate, most likely it will involve paint or fire and I'm not going to punish him for it! Tell your wife to smarten up! Look, Tom. My son saved your son's life and all he wants in return for your son is for your wife to keep her goddam mouth shut! He wants to be left alone. It's the least you can do!"
Thank you, Dad.
It did get pretty much buried and only a couple of neighbors found out (She just HAD to say SOMETHING to SOMEONE) about the incident so it wasn't too hard to deal with but from that day forward I knew how to handle a favor or a freebie.
Some years back I had an unnamed electrician do a small job for me. It was no biggie and the agreed on price was $150. When he was done I tossed him a 100 ml of Jim Beam and reached for my wallet. He said, "Ah, just give me a hundred bucks and keep your mouth shut."
Done deal and when someone asked me what I had been charged I simply said I had gotten a pretty good deal on it and left it at that.
My dealings with the Old School trash guys were legendary and I guarded that relationship closely. When someone asked how come they took practically anything I left on the curb I explained to her that I knew one of the trash guys because we went to different schools together and left it at that.
Actually one thing I did to the trash guys once endeared me to them. I once snagged a mannequin and then off to Goodwill for a cheap pair of sexy mules and a pair of black fishnets which I clad said mannequin in and stuffed it into the trash can head first with the legs sticking up.
Of course someone reported it and I watched a police car pull up and was treated to watching the officer shake his head and laugh as he drove off but I digress.
The trash guys laughed like hell and I knew I had made their day a little better for it. I think the next week they ditched four old tires or some damned thing for me but whatever.
One other thing I will post no details on is the time I got a $5000 mysterious home repair job done for about $300 and a bottle of Jim Beam. I sure kept my mouth shut on that one!
I'm 100% sure that if I ever mentioned that deal I would have ruined it for others as the entire FSA would have descended on the poor guy.
The afternoon after I made my Nextdoor post I spent an afternoon with a few people at the range and when I discovered that two of the guys were self-employed I asked them about tossing someone a bone. Both of them said they used to but don't anymore in general. One of them said he charges $10 for opening the hood. The other stated on the very rare instances he does it's for a regular customer and he admonishes the customer to keep it under his hat.
They reported that a big part of the reason they run their businesses this way is because people have to brag about getting getting taken care of and it draws the inevitable FSA expecting $25 brake jobs and the like.
I think that as I wrote this that I can give an example most karens can understand.
How would you like being descended on by every horned toad and dweeb in your class because your date to the big dance told everyone about what went on in the back seat of his car later on that night?
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