Most of the time, I deal with responsible and competent people. However, I have encountered two exceptions who stood out in ways I find annoying.
Exhibit 1: got a small loan from me over 2 1/2 years ago. She had some difficulties in life, so I didn’t press for repayment. For about the last year, I’ve been getting regular promises of repayment “today/tomorrow/by the end of the week”, perhaps twenty in all. I find it hard to believe that the small amount involved could not have been paid off over a few paychecks. In April, I got 10% of the total paid back. Since then, more was promised by mailed check or by cash in person, but no letter ever came and all personal appointments were missed. I also find it puzzling that somebody would make promises with no intentions of keeping them.
Exhibit 2: got a slightly larger loan from me in January. I offered to provide retouching work to pay off part of the loan. Work was done consistently poorly, without attention to detail or meeting of deadlines. Several times, I gave him non-urgent projects which he promised to do well and on time. All deadline have passed and no work was done. There’s been no communication in response to my inquiries. The deadline for repayment passed five months ago.
When people pay me or do something helpful, I try to provide at least their money’s worth in services and good publicity. Is there any down side to providing my money’s worth of negative publicity. Everything is well documented. I have pretty good reach into the circles frequented by the two people I mentioned. If nothing else, it might save others from being taken by the same people.
