Quick Economy Lesson: Either Do It Yourself Or Fork Over The Money

My neighbor was a woman living alone, and she didn’t like the fact that living alone meant taking care of stuff on her own. She also had a bad habit of getting her granddaughter to play with my daughter, and then she’d come up with an emergency and leave her granddaughter with me when she was supposed to be babysitting her.

She would also often try to get me or my husband to do various jobs for her. One example that comes to mind is when she decided that her lawnmower blade needed to be sharpened, and she asked me to have my husband do it.

Me: “I don’t think my husband knows how; my father-in-law did it for us the last time it needed to be done.”

Neighbor: “Since I’m a single woman on my own, your father-in-law should do it if he’s a gentleman!”

I kept telling her [Father-In-Law] was busy and had projects of his own, and she got annoyed and wouldn’t drop it. I then told her there was a local place that sold and serviced lawnmowers and to get it done there. I even went as far as to call the store and get a quote for her because she told me she didn’t know how to do it.

Me: “I called [Store], and they said it’ll be $15 to get it done if you bring in just the blade and $30 if they have to remove it from the mower themselves.”

Neighbor: “That’s expensive! I’m not taking it to the store!”

Me: “It’d be easy to do it yourself with the right tools.”

Neighbor: “It’s men’s work! Your husband needs to do it for me!”

He refused, and she was mad at me for a few weeks because I wouldn’t force my husband to do it.