This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

On Jul 27, 11:24*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:
This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

Nice story, and a nice gesture on your part. What exactly had to be
ground down?

R

On Jul 27, 11:52*am, RicodJour wrote:
On Jul 27, 11:24*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:





This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

Nice story, and a nice gesture on your part. *What exactly had to be
ground down?

R- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Some fiberglass/carbon fiber.

On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

On Jul 27, 12:16*pm, Steve Barker wrote:
On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:





This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. *I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What's my username? ;-)

DerbyDad03 wrote:

This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Hey- you should have cross-posted it to a couple political groups so
they could argue over whether it was Obama's fault-- or Bush's -- or
Foxnews- or CNBC.g

Good story- It is good to remind ourselves that there really are some
good folks out there.

Jim

Steve Barker wrote the following:
On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve


The All American Race (Soap Box Derby) in Akron Ohio??

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

DerbyDad03 wrote the following:
On Jul 27, 12:16 pm, Steve Barker wrote:

On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:






This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


What's my username? ;-)


Sorry, I mistakenly posted this response to Steve's post
The All American Race (Soap Box Derby) in Akron Ohio??

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Jul 27, 1:39*pm, willshak wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote the following:





On Jul 27, 12:16 pm, Steve Barker wrote:

On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter..
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. *I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What's my username? *;-)

Sorry, I mistakenly posted this response to Steve's post
The All American Race (Soap Box Derby) in Akron Ohio??

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yep!

DerbyDad03 wrote the following:
On Jul 27, 1:39 pm, willshak wrote:

DerbyDad03 wrote the following:






On Jul 27, 12:16 pm, Steve Barker wrote:

On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What's my username? ;-)

Sorry, I mistakenly posted this response to Steve's post
The All American Race (Soap Box Derby) in Akron Ohio??

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Yep!

Congrats to your daughter (and you) for getting that far.
We used to have an AASBD prelim race in Pearl River, NY
I never participated but did watch it..

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Jul 27, 4:36*pm, willshak wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote the following:

On Jul 27, 1:39 pm, willshak wrote:

DerbyDad03 wrote the following:

On Jul 27, 12:16 pm, Steve Barker wrote:

On 7/27/2010 10:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

This is nothing more than a story that shows that there are still some
very nice people left in this world. (Don't worry, it's tool related!)

Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

One of tools we needed was an angle grinder. His grinder was beat -
the switch was broken, the cord was frayed, and the wheel was shot -
but it got the job done. He even joked about the condition of the
tool.

The next day, after passing inspection because of his help, I went out
and bought him a new grinder. He was genuinely grateful - as was his
wife! She told me later that whenever he pulled out that old grinder,
she walked away and wouldn't watch.

As it turns out, they are headed in our direction in the fall and
we've agreed to get together for dinner and some sight-seeing in my
neck of the woods.

They could have stood back and watched us be eliminated before the
competition even began (like the other teams did) but instead they
stepped up and helped us out. They've got a new grinder and we've got
some new friends.

very good. *I'm curious, what kind of project/competition is/was this?

thanks

steve

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What's my username? *;-)

Sorry, I mistakenly posted this response to Steve's post
The All American Race (Soap Box Derby) in Akron Ohio??

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yep!

Congrats to your daughter (and you) for getting that far.
We used to have an AASBD prelim race in Pearl River, NY
I never participated but did watch it..

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Thanks for the congrats, but this year was as little different.

My daughter has aged out of the regular racing after making it to
Akron 3 times. My son has been there 4 times, bringing home a World
Championship a few years back. I have another daughter who raced there
once. All in all, our family has been pretty successful at Derby
racing.

This year we were there for 2 reasons:

1 - To work in the pits taking care of the final alignments on the
cars from our region (which would include Pearl River - Don't kids
from your area race in New Rochelle now?) Our region took home World
Championships in 2 of the 6 divisions this year.

2 - We entered a car in the Ultimate Speed Challenge, which is a
fairly new division that still allows for innovation and home made
parts and cars. The rest of the divisions are kits built from parts
purchased from the AASBD.

In an effort to limit the construction rules in the USC division to
allow for innovation, they unfortunately also left them open to
different interpretations. We interpreted them one way, which they
agreed could be done once we pointed it out to them. However, in the
end they stuck by what they *meant*, not by how we read them and we
were forced to make some last minute - and substantial -
modifications to my daughter's car. Seeing as this was our first year,
we never expected to place at the top of the division, but we dropped
a few spots because of the modifications.

At their request, I have already submitted some changes to the wording
that should eliminate the confusion for future builders.

In any event, what could have been a pretty bad week ended up with us
having made some new friends and having our faith in the human race
restored.

On Jul 27, 3:05*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jul 27, 4:36*pm, willshak wrote:

[...]

In any event, what could have been a pretty bad week ended up with us
having made some new friends and having our faith in the human race
restored.

I actually teared up reading this story. Am so down these days about
people that it helps, big-time, to read about one decent human being,
and possibly a budding friendship resulting from his good deed.

"DerbyDad03" wrote
Last week I was 350 miles from home at a competition with my daughter.
Due to a difference in the interpretation of the rules between our
team and the authors, my daughter's entry was deemed "illegal" at the
initial inspection. We had 24 hours to fix it or she could not
compete. (Said one official: "Look, we're not going to admit that
we're wrong, but we agree that the wording could be clearer. We'll see
what we can do about that for next year's competition, but for this
year, fix it or she doesn't compete.")

Seeing how upset my daughter was, the crew chief of a competing team
came over and said "I live 10 miles from here. Follow me home, use my
shop and tools and we'll get this thing ready for tomorrow."

Thanks for posting the story. It is easy to become cynical about people and
greed that is present so often, we forget that most people are decent.
Competition on the track is one thing, but we're all in this world together.

On 7/27/2010 7:06 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Jul 27, 3:05 pm, wrote:
On Jul 27, 4:36 pm, wrote:

[...]

In any event, what could have been a pretty bad week ended up with us
having made some new friends and having our faith in the human race
restored.

I actually teared up reading this story. Am so down these days about
people that it helps, big-time, to read about one decent human being,
and possibly a budding friendship resulting from his good deed.


Every time I help someone and they offer me money, I refuse and tell
them to pass it on. Someone may need a jump start, a lift to the gas
station, etc. I'm not wealthy by any means but I'll always tell them
to help someone else as payment. I've always wondered how many of them
actually do and I'd like to think that every one of them has taken a
little time to return the favor.

TDD

On Jul 28, 1:12*am, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
On 7/27/2010 7:06 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:

On Jul 27, 3:05 pm, *wrote:
On Jul 27, 4:36 pm, *wrote:

[...]

In any event, what could have been a pretty bad week ended up with us
having made some new friends and having our faith in the human race
restored.

I actually teared up reading this story. *Am so down these days about
people that it helps, big-time, to read about one decent human being,
and possibly a budding friendship resulting from his good deed.

Every time I help someone and they offer me money, I refuse and tell
them to pass it on. Someone may need a jump start, a lift to the gas
station, etc. I'm not wealthy by any means but I'll always tell them
to help someone else as payment. I've always wondered how many of them
actually do and I'd like to think that every one of them has taken a
little time to return the favor.

TDD

I'm the same way, but I don't hold it against my new friends for
accepting the grinder. They needed it!

I know that if I offered them money, they would have absolutely
refused.

I also did it in a fun way. Aside from all the other problems their
grinder had, the 4 1/2" wheel was down to about 2". We were bumping up
against the grinder housing while trying to use it. When I handed them
the new grinder I said "I bought you a new grinding wheel, and look,
it came with a grinder!"

I figured that by lightening up the situation it would make it less
awkward. It worked!

On Jul 28, 1:12*am, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
On 7/27/2010 7:06 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:

On Jul 27, 3:05 pm, *wrote:
On Jul 27, 4:36 pm, *wrote:

[...]

In any event, what could have been a pretty bad week ended up with us
having made some new friends and having our faith in the human race
restored.

I actually teared up reading this story. *Am so down these days about
people that it helps, big-time, to read about one decent human being,
and possibly a budding friendship resulting from his good deed.

Every time I help someone and they offer me money, I refuse and tell
them to pass it on. Someone may need a jump start, a lift to the gas
station, etc. I'm not wealthy by any means but I'll always tell them
to help someone else as payment. I've always wondered how many of them
actually do and I'd like to think that every one of them has taken a
little time to return the favor.

Last time I stopped to help someone I was driving down US-50 and saw a
Mustang merging onto the freeway. Just as he really got into the loud
pedal a lot of dark, thick smoke erupted from under the car. I pulled
over to see what'd happened and here the oil filter hadn't been
properly tightened so as soon as he got the RPMs up it started spewing
oil. No real problem, but he couldn't drive it without more oil. So
I gave him a lift back to his house. Guy wouldn't get out of the car
unless I took $20 from him. I still feel bad about it but
whattayagonnado. I hope his GF wasn't too ****ed at him (I believe
that it was her car, she was in it, he was driving, and I think he'd
done the oil change as well.)

nate

The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 7/27/2010 7:06 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Jul 27, 3:05 pm, wrote:
On Jul 27, 4:36 pm, wrote:

[...]

In any event, what could have been a pretty bad week ended up with us
having made some new friends and having our faith in the human race
restored.

I actually teared up reading this story. Am so down these days about
people that it helps, big-time, to read about one decent human being,
and possibly a budding friendship resulting from his good deed.


Every time I help someone and they offer me money, I refuse and tell
them to pass it on. Someone may need a jump start, a lift to the gas
station, etc. I'm not wealthy by any means but I'll always tell them
to help someone else as payment. I've always wondered how many of them
actually do and I'd like to think that every one of them has taken a
little time to return the favor.

TDD

I adopted that practice, too. There were times I received help but
could not return the favors....came a time I owed the world, so "pass it
along" seemed a good way to go. There have been a few neighbors who
play the more generous for suckers, but I decided that is THEIR problem,
not mine. Had one neighbor who asked me to babysit on short notice one
evening for girls' night out...nice lady, not a party animal, kid was
sleeping....she didn't offer to pay me, which I thought was rather odd
and I didn't want to be paid. Not a big deal, just kind of rude or
something.

Had another neighbor whose painter made a royal mess preparing the apt.
My hubby was helping the painter and might have gotten him drunk...I
just recall seeing a lot of beer cans in the trash can that day...we're
retirees, lots of time on our hands, helped the schmuck get paint off
his parquet floor and kitchen cabinets. I was scraping crud off the
tile in HIS bathroom when he came back from checking on the movers. The
tile was the last mess to clean up (using MY cleaning supplies), so we
were just about done. He came back from checking on the movers, started
talking about how expensive it was to pack mirrors, blah, blah, blah. I
knew what was coming next....cancelled the movers. We vamoosed for the
rest of the day, but the next morning the ******* still wasn't moved, so
we helped. I already had planned a pot of spaghetti for supper that
night and made enough for them. Nice dinner, ice cream and fresh
raspberries for dessert. Social climbing wife made it plain that we
were acquaintances, not friends. She did ask me to babysit, and always
inquired how much her hubby had to drink if he had visited that day.
Educational stay at this condo )