Hey Guys:
I had this female friend (Marie) that I met over ten years ago whom I had considered one of my very dearest friends because she was very wise and gave pretty good advice. Also, she became very protected of me when it came to guys trying to approach me. Well, almost two years ago, I was preparing for my finals exams before graduation from college when Marie contacted me one evening to ask me for a favor. Her oldest brother birthday was being celebrated the upcoming weekend and she wanted to burn some CDs that featured male singing groups from 50's, 60's and early 70's and she wanted them by the end of that week. I told her that due to time constraints, I would not be able to complete her request. She begged and pleaded with me to try to make additional time out of my busy schedule to do her this favor and she would be willing to pay me for doing so.
Since I do consider myself to be a good friend, I found myself staying up two nights in a row within the wee hours of the morning (up until 4:00-5:00 a.m.) going through my vast CD collection which by the way consist of more than 10.000 CDs of all genres of music. Therefore, it was not a problem for me to fulfill her request, but it would take a lot of time to do so. Once I contacted her to get some information as to what groups he would prefer as well as the genre, I burned over 7 eighty minute CDs. My burner has a couple of special features on it that results in the finished product sounding as if you bought the CD from a music store or suppliers.
So, upon completion, I contacted Marie to inform her that I have 7 CDs in my collection that I was sure her brother would be pleased with. Now mind you, I do not use any average blank CDs that are available at various department stores, I special order these CDs and they are quite expensive but the sound quality is outstanding which makes them worth the price in my opinion. Marie asked me how much would I charge her and to make matters worst, she would not be able to pick them up and wanted me to send them via Fed Express if I did not have time to bring them to her home. After taking a deep breath, I replied with that I would charge her $10.00 per CD and an extra $15.00 for Fed Ex charges. All of a sudden, there was complete silence from her end of the phone. When I inquire if this is a problem for her, she responded with stating that since she lives off of a monthly Social Security income and she takes care of her ailing mother, she would not be able to afford the price I requested. With that being said, I opened my heart to her by saying that I would not charge her for the music and she could just pay me for the Fed Ex charges. She insisted that if I lower the price of the music that she would pay not only the new amount but she would take care of the mailing charges as well. Nonetheless, I dropped the price of the music to $5.00 per CD and additional mailing charges upon which she was fine with. However, after mailing the package, she did contact me to tell me that she received it and how pleased her brother was with the music. Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, it's been close to two years now and I have not heard a word from her or received any funds for my finished product. Needless to say, I focused my energies on my exams which by the way, I aced them all at that time and I decided to let the matter go as well as the friendship.
To conclude, last weekend, I received an e-mail from Marie after all this time requesting if I would be available to meet her for a cup of coffee? I did not respond to this request immediately and honestly, I did anticipate on responding at all until I spoke to my sister about it and she thought that I should arrange to meet with her just to hear what she has to say and if I'm not pleased with what she says, then I should leave the coffee shop and closed the matter with her altogether. What really got me to start having second thoughts was the other day, I received yet another e-mail message from Marie requesting my phone number because the number she has for me ... she did not get a response whenever she dialed it. This bought concern for me because if I have already given her my schedule and availability and since initially, e-mail messages was how she contacted me, then what else is she looking for??? So, I bring this forth to the forum, what do you suggest? Thank you for taking the time to read and respond this ....JW :thinking:
I had this female friend (Marie) that I met over ten years ago whom I had considered one of my very dearest friends because she was very wise and gave pretty good advice. Also, she became very protected of me when it came to guys trying to approach me. Well, almost two years ago, I was preparing for my finals exams before graduation from college when Marie contacted me one evening to ask me for a favor. Her oldest brother birthday was being celebrated the upcoming weekend and she wanted to burn some CDs that featured male singing groups from 50's, 60's and early 70's and she wanted them by the end of that week. I told her that due to time constraints, I would not be able to complete her request. She begged and pleaded with me to try to make additional time out of my busy schedule to do her this favor and she would be willing to pay me for doing so.
Since I do consider myself to be a good friend, I found myself staying up two nights in a row within the wee hours of the morning (up until 4:00-5:00 a.m.) going through my vast CD collection which by the way consist of more than 10.000 CDs of all genres of music. Therefore, it was not a problem for me to fulfill her request, but it would take a lot of time to do so. Once I contacted her to get some information as to what groups he would prefer as well as the genre, I burned over 7 eighty minute CDs. My burner has a couple of special features on it that results in the finished product sounding as if you bought the CD from a music store or suppliers.
So, upon completion, I contacted Marie to inform her that I have 7 CDs in my collection that I was sure her brother would be pleased with. Now mind you, I do not use any average blank CDs that are available at various department stores, I special order these CDs and they are quite expensive but the sound quality is outstanding which makes them worth the price in my opinion. Marie asked me how much would I charge her and to make matters worst, she would not be able to pick them up and wanted me to send them via Fed Express if I did not have time to bring them to her home. After taking a deep breath, I replied with that I would charge her $10.00 per CD and an extra $15.00 for Fed Ex charges. All of a sudden, there was complete silence from her end of the phone. When I inquire if this is a problem for her, she responded with stating that since she lives off of a monthly Social Security income and she takes care of her ailing mother, she would not be able to afford the price I requested. With that being said, I opened my heart to her by saying that I would not charge her for the music and she could just pay me for the Fed Ex charges. She insisted that if I lower the price of the music that she would pay not only the new amount but she would take care of the mailing charges as well. Nonetheless, I dropped the price of the music to $5.00 per CD and additional mailing charges upon which she was fine with. However, after mailing the package, she did contact me to tell me that she received it and how pleased her brother was with the music. Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, it's been close to two years now and I have not heard a word from her or received any funds for my finished product. Needless to say, I focused my energies on my exams which by the way, I aced them all at that time and I decided to let the matter go as well as the friendship.
To conclude, last weekend, I received an e-mail from Marie after all this time requesting if I would be available to meet her for a cup of coffee? I did not respond to this request immediately and honestly, I did anticipate on responding at all until I spoke to my sister about it and she thought that I should arrange to meet with her just to hear what she has to say and if I'm not pleased with what she says, then I should leave the coffee shop and closed the matter with her altogether. What really got me to start having second thoughts was the other day, I received yet another e-mail message from Marie requesting my phone number because the number she has for me ... she did not get a response whenever she dialed it. This bought concern for me because if I have already given her my schedule and availability and since initially, e-mail messages was how she contacted me, then what else is she looking for??? So, I bring this forth to the forum, what do you suggest? Thank you for taking the time to read and respond this ....JW :thinking:
