Same ridiculous attachment to an object most people would’ve replaced years ago.
Denise never asked to borrow it again.
Actually, she stopped borrowing almost everything for several months.
Then one afternoon in October, she knocked.
I opened the door.
She pointed toward my garage.
“Do you still have the pressure washer?”
“Yes.”
She sighed.
“Do you still have the forms?”
I smiled.
“Absolutely.”
She rolled her eyes.
But she signed one.
And when the pressure washer came back, it was clean.
On time.
Had a full tank.
People sometimes say lending things to neighbors is part of being neighborly.
I agree.
But being generous doesn’t mean pretending someone else’s carelessness doesn’t cost you anything.
For years, I’d thought saying no would make me rude.
What it actually did was teach Denise that my belongings had value even when they weren’t valuable to her.
The deposit worked because suddenly she had something of her own at stake.
And that’s really what changed.
Not her ability to clean a slow cooker.
Her reason to care.
As for the mixer, it’s still on my kitchen counter.
Same chip in the enamel.
Same scratches.
Same motor my mother listened to every Sunday for years.
Denise was right about one thing.
It is ancient.
That’s precisely why I wanted it back.
So, here’s the real question: If someone repeatedly returned your belongings dirty or damaged, would you stop lending altogether, or make them financially responsible for whatever they borrow?
If you enjoyed reading this story, here’s another one you might like: A woman lost her patience with a man who was taking too long to choose flowers for his wife and mocked him in front of the entire shop. Seconds later, she noticed something beside his leg that explained why he had been carefully examining every single flower.
