My friend of 10 years has been like a sister to me. She has embarked on a new self-employed business and needs to make certain targets each month.
Until recently, I had managed to keep my distance from it all, but she contacted me in a fluster, worried that she wasn't making her targets.
When it was her birthday 4 months ago, I have offered to put in a modest order (in my mind it was akin to a token of my support for her as I didn't need the products), but she lost the order and it didn't go ahead. Now that she was in a panic, she had gone through all of her paperwork and found my modest order, so there as no reason to delay any further.
When I came to place the order, she had added several extras to my list but I declined them all as it was getting too expensive and I just didn;t need the stuff. She then included something she wanted for herself, but didn't want to pay the extra delivery by creating a separate order. I agreed, again as a one-off goodwill gesture to a friend, and she said she would pay me asap.
However, when the delivery arrived, I let her know and she was suspiciously quiet. It took several weeks for her agree a time for me to drop it off to her, and when I did, she told me that she had no money but would get it to me.
The weeks have passed by and I have reminded her a couple of times, but she always agrees, makes an excuse as to how hard done by she is because her life is so hectic, and promises to get it "soon".
I had foolishly spent more than I wanted already, but certainly would not have bought half of it if I'd known I was going to pay for her order and never get the money back! It feels like the end of a good friendship to be honest, and I am wondering if I should just cut my losses and cut her out of my life without saying anything more, or whether I should keep pestering her and make her hate me by doing so.
Cutting her out of my life would also be really hard as our children are close friends at school, and they'd be distraught at losing their friends. Also, we're always waiting outside the same classrooms each day and so can't avoid each other.
WWYD?