It probably looks like I post a lot more often these days. There are several possibilities when this happens. The current one can be explained in one word: procrastination :( Yes, dear reader, I am supposed to be writing up stuff for a paper but because obviously that is a tormenting prospect, I write... a blog instead. I tell myself that I did do some writing, that I sharpened the axe so to speak, and that it will get me closer to the goal once I have exhausted all distractions. The good thing is I know that this is what I always do when I am anxious about getting the stuff out. I can look back and be comforted that eventually I will get there. But first, I have to procrastinate. It's almost like a process at this point. A good example may be the warm-up that has to be done before the intense exercise ;)

.... So... I was reading about this chap's problem with a colleague on Twitter. Apparently, this person was dropping off his colleague every day to her home because she lived barely three minutes away from him. One day he wanted to leave work at half day to pick family or somebody from the airport. He asks this colleague if she could do his remaining day's work. I have to assume it must be something like a retail job because there was no mention of what it was. This colleague says that she'll do it, but he has to pay her by the hour. It seems he is taken aback by this because he was dropping her for free every day but transfers the money to her anyway. The next day when she comes around to be dropped, he tells her that she'll have to pay half for petrol from now on. She appears pissed.

That was the story and there were many comments against the colleague for being money-minded, saying that she got what she deserved etc. I have been thinking about what I would do if I were in this lady's place. I feel: 1. Dropping somebody who lives close to you and asking them to do your work for half a day are very different classes of activities, and 2. If the guy expected something from her in return for the drop-off, he wasn't acting altruistically. What would I have done? I think I would have done the half-day job without asking to be paid for it but after that I wouldn't accept the lift either. I would consider it even-steven and done. I suppose I very much love the quality of generosity that does not expect or demand anything in return, in fact does not even make you feel like they did you a favour. The funny thing is the less a person makes me feel they have done me a favour, the more indebted I feel. The less they want to make of it, the more I want to make of it. And vice versa. I have a fear of people who will want to cash out an obligation because there's no telling what they'll expect of me. Which is why I am rather cautious about accepting anything and about whom I accept from. This chap's request for the half-day job would be such a fear come true. I'd want to make an end of it.