I know it's only £10 but .....

[Leogirl73]

My colleague at work asked me to put in the £10 each in for our Xmas gift for our boss there's 6 of us in the office and the other 4 all paid their £10 at the time it's now half way through jan and she keeps saying she will leave it for me but never does !! What would u do ??

Why did you put it in for her? If she was skint and couldn't afford to put in a tenner (which is excessive anyway) she should have opted out; not borrowed it.

It starts off as only £10. When I was younger and a sucker I worked with someone who was always borrowing £10 or £20 here and there. We worked for commission and he wasn't very good at it, so it wasn't as simple as waiting till payday because he didn't have a guaranteed income. In the end he must have owed me about £100! Then he quit or was fired (I can't remember) and drifted away from the friendship. I could have pursued him about the money but I felt too awkward. A scrounger always has a sob story so it's never a good time. It still annoys me but it was several years ago so I've had to let it go. It's not too late for you to get your money back though. Try asking her politely a couple of times and if that doesn't work, asking her loudly and firmly in front of people.

She finally paid me back yay ! But lesson learnt won't be going down that road again !

I had something similar with a friend of mine once. She owed me a tenner and kept making excuses. If she had just been honest and said she was skint then I wouldn't have minded as much but it was the false promises that did my head in.

I would ask her for it but also mention maybe "If you're a bit short let me know but I kind of need it. If you haven't got it then I will borrow it from *"?

I never lend small amounts of money, apart from buying the odd coffee.

However, I was out with a driver's mate once and he was visibly embarrassed when we stopped for lunch. So I paid for his, on the condition he helped out the next guy who was in need.

"How do you know I'm not taking the piss?" he asked.

"I don't, but if you are, you'll keep taking it until you get caught. Remember, this is an industry full of big fists and short tempers."

For people who really take the piss, like some of my scally relatives, I keep a couple of standard loan agreements with blanks to fill in.