cow orkers & other acquaintances who act as if they have a right to borrow your light

[ackbar]

That could be acceptable, depending of course on who was doing the grabbing.

I'm not daft, if it was a smoking hot female I wouldn't have said a word

I keep cheap lights and pocketknives around just for "borrowers" If they need to borrow that means they don't have the wherewithall to buy gear of their own and they are not getting my good stuff on a bet.

Why should you burden yourself by spending your time and energy preparing for someone else's shortcomings.

Failure to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

[Burgess]

I have zero trouble telling someone no.

+1


At my age (57 years old), i no longer give a sh1t WHAT people think of me.



_

[HotWire]

I always wanted to start a thread like this. People will borrow a flashlight and then return it with dead batteries or a burned out bulb! Then, instead of thanking me, they tell me it was "no good." So... at work I keep my lights to myself and keep 2 cheap D cell lights with 1/2 dead batteries. Those are the only lights my coworkers see! Friends are a different matter.

[Expired]

Learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago. Items I never allow to be used out of my sight under ANY circumstances are: flashlights, tools, lawnmowers, cars, bikes, knives, musical equipment, and photography equipment. For some reason, some borrowers feel free to abuse, misuse, break, keep, or re-lend those items. A firm NO! meaning the discussion is over works every time.

Most borrowers**
It seems like everything I lend out somehow gets messed up.. People don't have ANY respect for other peoples property now a'days.

Someone asks to borrow a dvd series, then ends up loaning it to someone else and they kick it around and scratch it up.
Other people ask to borrow a dvd and then fail to return it.. It's gotten to the point where I have to keep records like a library.
People ask to borrow money and promise to pay you back ASAP. 10 times you see that same person, and they don't mention paying you back once. You have to bring it up to them, because you loaning them money was meaningless.

I play Disc Golf and got my friends into it by letting them borrow my discs. Then I offer to take them out and show them which disc/discs to buy, but they don't want to spend the money. It's $10! Then they call me up wanting to play, and expect me to let them borrow my discs again.. After I let them throw them into tree trunks, concrete, almost lose them in water, etc.

I play Tennis with several friends, and every time they get annoyed, they throw their racket(walmart ones) or hit it on the ground.. Then they ask to try my $200 one out to see how it feels. Sometimes this is immediately after slamming theirs on the ground, to which I reply, "Nope. Look at how you treat your own racket. Why would I let you use mine?". A lot of the time they don't even get it, it just doesn't click. Finally one friend bought his own racket and now he's terrified to even get it close to the court surface, but with mine he didn't care.

If I let someone borrow something now I usually explain to them the cost, the consequences if they mess it up, how long they can borrow it for, when I expect it back, not to lend it out to other people like it's their own, how to properly use it(and even then they usually don't listen), etc. If I trust the person and don't think they are an idiot, I'll just hand it to them. That's hardly anyone except my brother though. People lack common sense and respect..

Oh, another time recently.. I was playing basketball at the local court and the people I was playing with wanted to use my ball. After we beat the other team, some jackass booted my ball over the fence and into the parking lot.

I can't think of anything else right now.

I was working under a coworkers desk working on some cabling and had my Tri V. Another fellow picked it up and was about to play with it. I physically had ti remove it from his hand as he didnt want to hand it back.

I said "that isn't a cheap light " and he said "like a hundred?".
Yeah something like that and took it out if hands.

O__O

[subwoofer]

Well it goes to show Lord Polonius was right when he said:

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"

I am very reluctant to lend anything as it always ends up damaged or excessively 'used' so ---- them who are so unprepared and don't respect other people's property.

I would only ever ask to borrow something in an emergency and then I would only borrow it if I could afford to replace it or if there were consumables, to replace them.

If it is an emergency for the person asking to borrow something, I will help them by using it myself, but not just hand it over.

[Burgess]

Kinda' ironic, really . . . .


The only person i would lend my flashlight to, would be a "true flashaholic".


- however -


a true flashaholic wouldn't NEED to borrow my flashlight, cuz' he'd have his OWN.



_

[Biker Bear]

I'm not daft, if it was a smoking hot female I wouldn't have said a word

In that case, you might be wise to smile pleasantly and say "Just be sure to put it back when you're done." *grin*

Why should you burden yourself by spending your time and energy preparing for someone else's shortcomings.

Failure to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

Social lubricant, really; and how much trouble is it for me to have a spare fauxton type light on my keyring to lend out? Granted, other gear is a different issue and if they try to demand "the good light" - my personal response would be "that doesn't get lent out."

Especially in the case of someone who'd ridiculed me for carrying (fill in the blank for the piece of EDC gear they now want to borrow), I'd ask them why they'd want to borrow an item that's so... (fill in however they insulted the idea of carrying that bit of gear). If that doesn't give them the idea, then a simple, direct "no" would follow.

[PhotonWrangler]

I've only loaned my decent lights to co-workers when we're working together on a job site and the light always remains nearby while they're using it. Even then I've occasionally watched a co-worker slip it into his pocket when he's finished with it. I'll usually give them a few minutes to see if they "remember" to give it back, and ultimately I'll have to say "um, I need that back." Fortunately this has been the exception rather than the rule, but primarily because it never leaves my sight in the first place.

[Ian2381]

A lot of people nowadays just don't respect others valuables, especially when they don't know how expensive your light is. my friends who usually borrows my lights know that my lights are expensive and have taken good care of them.

[Ian2381]

I thought that I was prepared for the worst when lending Lights to friends/collegues as I just can't say no when someone ask to borrow my light.

I usually carry a less than $20 dollar light with me (with enough output-100lumens) for lending to friends so that I don't have to let them use my EDC light. Also have several spare fauxtons in my bag just in case someone might need a light(might not be able to return it).

I got the surprise of my flashaholic life when on a Mt Hiking trip I was left with no light at all for a few grueling minutes as my last light was borrowed by a friend of mine.

This happened when I brought 5 Lights with Me. One lantern for the camp, 2 supposed to be for lending to friends, a Light for throw and a headlamp. As I predicted the two for lending lights was out of my possession once it gets dark and after a while my Thrower light got borrowed by another friend, at this point I was a bit frustrated and things got worst when one of my closest friend ask me if she could use my headlamp for a few minutes.

[carrot]

On my last hiking trip I brought a headlamp for myself plus three extra. Each of my friends used the other headlamps and I still had 3 CR123-powered flashlights left over that we did not need to use. Seeing each of my headlamps in action helped me to better compare them and I was surprised with the results I found. I will note that unless they are experienced hikers, friends who go with you will very often forget or omit a light source.

[bodhran]

The only person I trust with my lights is my granddaughter at 2 1/2 years. Not only does she appreciate a quality light, but she takes better care of them than many adults I know..*s*

[Kingfisher]

Hope you get your stuff back in the same condition it was lent out.....

[Stress_Test]

Man, tell those guys that unless they bring lights on the next trip, you're going to make them use THIS instead...

[radioactive_man]

This is the reason I just ordered a bucketful of fauxtons.

[Lynx_Arc]

Just learn to tell folks that certain lights you don't loan out

[leeholaaho]

ROFLMAO to the flame on a stick

[Monocrom]

I carry a cheap, 1/2watt, 2AA, Cabela's LED light in my BOB. In an emergecy, I can loan that light out to a friend who's with me. For others, there's the "give them a cheap coin-cell LED the first time they ask" approach. They get to keep it, with the understanding that since they now have their own light, there's never going to be a reason to ask to borrow your's.

Another tactic is to let them know you collect flashlights, and the one you're carring is worth X-amount of dollars. They can borrow it. But if it gets damaged or scratched, they're going to have to compensate you for it. That'll generally turn off enough folks that they won't ever ask again.

[DM51]

Merging 2 similar threads...

[Chongker]

While I do agree that I would never just lend out my lights to an acquaintance I don't know well (too much risk), I'd also argue that lending your lights to friends you trust can be great fun. Recently had a midnight climb up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh with my girlfriend and a couple of other friends, and of course I had to be the one to provide lighting for the night

The gf had already seen quite a bit and things were getting old for her, but it was a good laugh seeing my other 2 friends marvel at how bright the lights they got were! (they didn't even get any of my big guns ). It was nice seeing them used and put me back into perspective on things, that my lights really are quite amazing tools (saw past their shortcomings which I was too quick to focus on before). Everything came back safely and all I had to do was charge up the spent batteries by the end of the night.

That said, I recently got back my warm white Preon II (one of my favourite edc's) from being on loan for a week with a good friend. She'd used cheap alkaline's in them and they leaked, so it's out of commission for now .

I guess I'll only loan out things if I can keep an eye on them, or if the receiving party has the knowledge and respect necessary to take care of other people's possessions. Not gonna end up a complete grinch just yet!

[Chris_Himself]

All the people I know, know that I collect really expensive (to them at least) knives and tools, and while I don't care if the stuff gets dinged up due to all it it being for hard-use anyway, they still respect that I had to work hard to have those things.

I don't loan stuff out to acquaintances PERIOD. I mean on a loan basis, not a "dude lemme check under my desk" type deal.

[Monocrom]

. . . I recently got back my warm white Preon II (one of my favourite edc's) from being on loan for a week with a good friend. She'd used cheap alkaline's in them and they leaked, so it's out of commission for now .

I guess I'll only loan out things if I can keep an eye on them, or if the receiving party has the knowledge and respect necessary to take care of other people's possessions. Not gonna end up a complete grinch just yet!

Did she at least offer to replace it? Or, even scrap it out to try and salvage it? Try to make it up to you in some way at least? Perfect example of what I'm talking about.

The Cabela's light I mentioned above is decent, but cheap; and I don't care about it at all. Bought it back when I didn't know any better. Someone borrows that and breaks it, I'm not gonna care. Carrying around a cheap coin-cell light not only gives you an extra light you can use in an emergency, but gives you the perfect thing to lend to someone else who will either damage it or "forget" to return it.

[Chongker]

Did she at least offer to replace it? Or, even scrap it out to try and salvage it? Try to make it up to you in some way at least? Perfect example of what I'm talking about.

The Cabela's light I mentioned above is decent, but cheap; and I don't care about it at all. Bought it back when I didn't know any better. Someone borrows that and breaks it, I'm not gonna care. Carrying around a cheap coin-cell light not only gives you an extra light you can use in an emergency, but gives you the perfect thing to lend to someone else who will either damage it or "forget" to return it.

Quite the contrary actually, she bought me a really nice dinner and got me a Leatherman multitool too (her bf had a Skeletool and she knew I wanted one as well). Ended up gifting her my old Fenix E20, some Eneloops and a cheap USB charger for them to use. Still doesn't fix my light, but it wasn't in the hands of someone random and it's something forgivable (and hopefully fixable, gonna get on that soon). But I do think I really need to start edcing a beater to loan out. Even the A3 on my keychain is probably too much to loan out. The free coin cell light from lighthound should do nicely =)


As for my main EDC (surefire LX2 at the moment), you can rip that out of my cold dead hands

[Monocrom]

Always good to hear true tales of folks doing the right thing after making a mistake.

(Yeah, I wouldn't loan out my iTP A3 EOS either. One of my too-many-to-count Lighthound coin-cell lights, that's a different story.)

[Burgess]

I will note that unless they are experienced hikers,
friends who go with you will very often forget or omit a light source.

This is SO true, in so many situations !


People actually say:


" Gee . . . . i never THOUGHT about what would happen once it got DARK ! "


DUH ! ! !




_

[enomosiki]

"You were ridiculing me before for spending so much money for good flashlights, yet you come crying to me when you need one the most. Get the hell out of my face."

[dudemar]

In my case it's not so much when people want to borrow something, but I'm expected to hand over whatever I have in my possession NQA. It seems "Please" and "can/may I see..." is missing from the English lexicon, and has been replaced by "Aw cool!" or "lemme see that" followed by an open hand. Sometimes it's just a look, grunt then open hand. Sometimes it's just an open hand, or straight away grab whatever I'm holding.

Most people don't have any sense, period. I had a friend that epitomized this, and you can tell why we aren't friends anymore.

Under very limited circumstances I'll loan a light under three conditions. All three have to be met:

1. You're a girl
2. You're really cute
3. You have common sense to return the light in the condition it was received

Even when the first two conditions are met, it's usually the latter that falls short.


...on the other hand, I guess this is why crappy DX lights exist! What's worth $10 now probably couldn't be given away in a year. You lose it, so what.

[Ian2381]

The most frustrating part of lending flashlights is when the person you lent your light lend it to others. This leads you to a hunt, tracing where your light is.

You guys are right, the best way to make sure your light will be returned is to tell the how much it cost. This sometimes leads to them asking for a cheaper light to borrow.

[Monocrom]

I've never understood the mentality behind lending out something that was borrowed from someone else.

My take on it is, this is someone else's property. I'm responsible for it, for returning it in the same condition it was in when I borrowed it. Obviously I'm not going to lend it out to anyone.

Unfortunately, there are folks out there who don't have any respect for the property of others. (Not even bothering to get the item back for the owner, but having him hunt down the last person who had it; that's the cherry on top.)

[kaichu dento]

Hey, one of the new guys in maintenance pulled out a flashlight today and said everyone he showed it to told him to talk to me about flashlights. Just as it came out of his pocket, I said "Hey, is the a 6P"? It's funny that I recognized it from all the pics here, since I've never seen one before in person! He really likes it and was pretty proud that it's one that his friend had carried during his service with a police force down south.

Maybe I'll ask if I can borrow it sometime!