Solipsus

Is there a stamp on my forehead which spells ‘Easy to manipulate’ or ‘Take advantage of’?

Ever since I got my car a few weeks ago, it seems to have become an invitation for people to ask for lifts. I have no problem giving them lifts to places which are on my route home, or if I need to go somewhere to, but what really hacks me off is when I ask them to pay a bit of petrol money (not much, just a £1 or 2) for the petrol I use seeing as the more weight in my car the more petrol it uses, or even sometimes they offer to give me some, agree to, and then don’t!

I am not a person to ask people for the money. I feel bad, and almost rude, but at the end of the day they said they would. They know I do not like to pursue the matter, or ask for the money, just would like them to slip it in the ashtray or say “Here you go Ben, thank you for the lift”, but because they know this they don’t do it and know they will get away with it.

For this reason, I have stopped giving people random lifts to Waitrose for example which is just round the corner from our school. I say, if they are that desperate for the food, then they can take the 20 minute walk. I am not people’s slave.

When I turned down some friends who wanted to go to the chip shop during a free study period today, and they walked off, they did not realise I was still behind them and heard them bitching about me. In a way bitching, but enough to show me that they are only really using me for lifts. Show’s me who my friends are though…

Ben