I have no idea why I did it, but I sure as hell regret doing it.
Yesterday, a co-worker lost his keys. No one had any idea where, but the keys that he lost consisted not only of the key for the building, but included his house and car keys, as well. This is a regular occurence, but it was the first time where he really, really, really lost them.
Anyway, he tried to find them using incandescent Garrity 2D that we have lying around. Obviously, it wasn't helping much to illuminate every nooks and crannies. After a while, he turned to me and asked me if I could borrow one of my lights.
Me: "No."
He's the clumsy type where everything that he holds on ends up either breaking apart or becoming lost.
Co-worker: "Why?"
Over the years, I have given him at least four flashlights as gifts, but he has lost EVERY. SINGLE. ONE OF THEM. Two IlluminaTi CA1, iTP EOS A3 and TerraLUX LightStar 100. He has lost every single one of them within two weeks of having given to him. Of course, I pointed this out to him.
Me: "What happened to the four different lights that I gave you?"
And, obviously, he side-stepped the issue.
Co-worker: "C'mon, are you REALLY not going to lend me your light?"
Me: "Uh, yeah."
He then tries to get another co-worker to borrow my light FOR him.
Co-worker: "What if <name> borrowed your light?"
Me: "Nope."
Co-worker: "But, why?"
Me: "Because you are not <name>?"
After a brief argument, I ended up handing my fully blinged-out Quark "X" Tactical with Fenix diffuser, turbo tailcap and AA body because I didn't want the charade to continue, considering how I was extremely busy with my work and he was becoming annoying not only from the argument, but the fact that he was getting in the way of my work.
After I handed it to him;
Me: "I would appreciate it if you can refrain from losing my $80 flashlight."
He nods, and ends up DROPPING the light to the ground.
Me: "AND I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU CAN REFRAIN FROM BREAKING IT, AS WELL!"
After he was done fruitlessly searching for his keys, he returned my light... Except that I didn't see the diffuser still attached to it.
Me: "Uh, where's the thing that goes in the front?"
He fishes for it in his pocket and digs it out. I take it without much thought and tried to fit it to the head of the light, at which point I immediately noticed something was wrong. I take a look at it and, sure enough, the diffuser is broken.
Me: "Great. Thanks. You broke my light, you ******* idiot."
Co-worker: "Really?"
(I show him the broken diffuser.)
Me: "YES."
That's it. He now KNOWS that I am never lending him anything in my possession. But the damage has been done.
To be honest, I'm not really angry about the diffuser being broke. It's pretty cheap. What I am angry about is that I was a complete fool to lend out my light to a complete moron without any sort of accountability.
If there was anything positive to all of this, it was something that another one of my co-workers said when I used my TN11 when she was searching for the keys using another 2D Garrity. As she was searching under some cabinets with that dim light, I lent her a hand and shined my TN11 down there.
Co-worker: "WOAH!!"
Me: "Too bright?"
Co-worker: "It was, like, daylight, all of a sudden!"
Me: "Well, sorry about that."
Co-worker: "Oh, no, I just got shocked a little. I thought it was the flashlight that I was holding, and was, like, 'what HAPPENED to this flashlight?'"