Thursday, April 05, 2007
Paying It Forward
Last summer we were at my parents lake house and drove from the house to the picnic area for a community gathering. My mother parked the car quite close to the one next to her. Nicholas, unaccustomed to being able to open his own door (in our car we have child locks and he can't open the door from the inside), was giddy to get out by himself and start playing in the sand. He flung the door open and BAM!, slammed it into the car next to us, putting a decent-sized ding in their car. Shit!
Being the responsible person I am (and fearful that there were witnesses outside my family), I found some paper and a pencil and wrote down my name and number for the owners of the car, telling them how sorry I was that my son put a ding in the door of their nearly new, beautiful Lexus SUV. I told them to call me when they had an estimate for fixing the dent and we'd be happy to pay for it. They were cool, and despite wincing when they saw the ding, went about being social and fun for the community gathering. We even joked about how I'd take the money from Nicholas's college fund to pay for the damage he caused. Ha ha.
A few weeks go by and I don't hear anything from them. Then, in Michaels craft store, I see the guy. It takes me a minute to recognize him, but he recognized my kids and we exchanged hello's, etc. Turns out he lives quite close to us as well as having a house on the same lake as my parents. Small world, blah blah blah. He never mentions the door ding. I ask my mother if she's heard anything and she tells me she saw them up at the lake and it appeared that the door had been fixed. Hmmm....
Here it is 8-9 months later and they never contacted us to pay for the damage. At this point we must assume they're not going to. So when I left the YMCA yesterday and saw this on my windshield, I was inclined to be generous. (there was also a name and number on the note, which I've cropped out to protect privacy). Mr. Chick and I talked about it, and we've decided to let the guy off the hook. The damage is minimal. We were impressed that he'd actually leave his name and number and take responsibility for what happened. So many people wouldn't have. So I called him today and left a message for him telling him so. I thanked him for leaving his contact information and said that we had benefited from the kindness of someone else in the same situation, so we were going to Pay It Forward and not ask him to fix the minimal damage. We just asked that he remember this and do the same for someone else if ever the opportunity presents itself.
If more people Paid It Forward the world would be a cooler place, don't you think?
Being the responsible person I am (and fearful that there were witnesses outside my family), I found some paper and a pencil and wrote down my name and number for the owners of the car, telling them how sorry I was that my son put a ding in the door of their nearly new, beautiful Lexus SUV. I told them to call me when they had an estimate for fixing the dent and we'd be happy to pay for it. They were cool, and despite wincing when they saw the ding, went about being social and fun for the community gathering. We even joked about how I'd take the money from Nicholas's college fund to pay for the damage he caused. Ha ha.
A few weeks go by and I don't hear anything from them. Then, in Michaels craft store, I see the guy. It takes me a minute to recognize him, but he recognized my kids and we exchanged hello's, etc. Turns out he lives quite close to us as well as having a house on the same lake as my parents. Small world, blah blah blah. He never mentions the door ding. I ask my mother if she's heard anything and she tells me she saw them up at the lake and it appeared that the door had been fixed. Hmmm....
Here it is 8-9 months later and they never contacted us to pay for the damage. At this point we must assume they're not going to. So when I left the YMCA yesterday and saw this on my windshield, I was inclined to be generous. (there was also a name and number on the note, which I've cropped out to protect privacy). Mr. Chick and I talked about it, and we've decided to let the guy off the hook. The damage is minimal. We were impressed that he'd actually leave his name and number and take responsibility for what happened. So many people wouldn't have. So I called him today and left a message for him telling him so. I thanked him for leaving his contact information and said that we had benefited from the kindness of someone else in the same situation, so we were going to Pay It Forward and not ask him to fix the minimal damage. We just asked that he remember this and do the same for someone else if ever the opportunity presents itself.
If more people Paid It Forward the world would be a cooler place, don't you think?
// posted by MP @ 10:17 AM 
Comments:
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That is truly wonderful! I try to pay it forward whenever the opportunity presents! I get a "high" from doing so...:)
Definitely - the world would be a better place. I had a chance to "pay it forward" yesterday. Years ago, a lady I worked with gave me a very nice computer desk as she had moved and had a built in desk area in her new kitchen. We ordered new office furniture a few weeks ago and it was delivered Tues. I cleaned out the old desk, cleaned it up and put an ad in the "Free for the taking" section on a local internet site. The desk it still in wonderful shape. The couple that picked it up had gotten it for their son who will be going away to college. It was given to me and it was much needed at the time and most appreciated by the generosity of the giver. I felt it was the right thing to do since it was given to me. (And my husband was thrilled he didn't have to move it!) so it was all good.
MCM
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