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I used to play a M.U.D. (Yes, if anyone knows what that is, I admit I'm a geek, but lets stick to the issue at hand) a few years ago, which has since disappeared. Whilst I was working as a builder there, I made friends with one of the other staff, and have kept in contact with him ever since, because he's a real dude. Anyway, that means I've known him for a good few years, even though our correspondance is a little sparodic. Towards the end of my time at the M.U.D. somebody told me that he was a millionaire, or more than a millionaire. His grandparents apparently started some company years ago which is absolutly massive. His parents used to own an airline, etc.
Well, that discomforted me a bit. The problem with hanging out with the very rich when you're not very rich is that you always worry that they might think you're only friends with them to scrounge. In fact, I noticed that other people were doing just that - and worse, that he was indulging them. I've since discussed this with him, and he says that he is fully aware that people abuse him like that, but that he feels it nessecary to continue giving people gifts in order to keep their freindship.
I told him that no friend kept that way was worth it, and that the only way he could be sure that his friends were his friends was to make a resolution never to buy people dispropportianate gifts. He agreed. He isn't a man with very many friends, and he was using money to avoid having to develop social skills.
So I'm just sitting there last night, about one. I'd been talking to him, about nothing much, when I get a disproportianate gift in my email inbox. I seriously didn't know what to do. I tried to reject it, but after an hour or so I was sounding really petty and he was getting bored. The thing is, as soon as I actually accepted it, it started affecting my behaviour; I was moderating my language and watching what I said in case he thought I was ungrateful or something. Gifts always do that to me, even if its just 20 quid from my nan. I'm just not used to gifts of this size, and it makes me uncomfortable.
So what should I do? I've been seriously considering just forwarding the email back to him so he can spend the money himself. I've also been considering buying a digital camera. Is there even a moral issue here? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? What camera should I get? |
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