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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think I shouldn't have to replace my colleague's umbrella?

154 replies

PineappleFwitters · 19/05/2017 11:49

One of my colleagues is notoriously tight-fisted - the sort who steals biscuits from meeting rooms, is always the first to help himself when you buy treats for the office yet whatever he buys never gets offered around.

He is also very proud of the fact that he's never bought an umbrella for years as he has a collection of ones he's found on the train! He keeps about 3 of them in his drawer at work. The other day it started bucketing down and I had no umbrella so I asked if I could borrow one. After much deliberation he gave me the oldest one he had but I was grateful anyway as it saved me from being drenched.

Unfortunately it was also a windy day, and just as I got home, it got caught in a gust of wind and turned completely inside out. I examined it and it was pretty much wrecked. I apologised to my colleague the next day and explained what happened and he's insisting I buy him a new one, and "not one of those cheap jobs from Primark"!

AIBU to think I shouldn't have to? It was an ancient one he found on the tube years ago and he has plenty of spares! Or, if I'm going to replace it I don't see why it should be with a brand new brolly when it wasn't new to begin with. And no, it's not that he can't afford a new umbrella (he is single, on a good wage and has no mortgage) or that he's a collector of antique umbrellas!

OP posts:

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PastysPrincess · 19/05/2017 13:29

Cant you pop into a charity shop and see if you can get a second hand one there? That way he gets his umbrella and you've helped a good cause.

I think he is mean spirited to make you replace it though. Office politics being what it is, it's probably better to replace it.

mothertruck3r · 19/05/2017 13:44

Just buy one from Poundland, remove the tags and say you are replacing a new one (the one you have bought) for a secondhand one, so basically like for like.

Original poster

PineappleFwitters · 19/05/2017 13:47

He didn't pay anything for it HelptheTigers - he found it on the train, like has done all his brollies!

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 19/05/2017 13:49

Just give him the Poundland one. And stop putting up with his demands or sub'ing him rounds or tolerating his behaviour.

BritInUS1 · 19/05/2017 13:50

You borrowed something from someone and you broke it. Yes you should replace it. Where he got it from is irrelevant.

ScarlettFreestone · 19/05/2017 13:52

He sounds unpleasant but that, and everything else is irrelevant.

You were using something borrowed from a colleague and it was broken while in your possession.

Of course you should buy him a new one.

JakeBallardswife · 19/05/2017 13:52

Poundland it is then. It'll last at least as long as the one he let you borrow.

SeaRabbit · 19/05/2017 13:55

So he's one of the gits that takes things off trains rather than handing them in? I've left so many things on trains I've never got back.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 19/05/2017 13:55

Tell him you will give him the cash value of what he paid for it. Then give him 1p sellotaped to a piece of paper and congratulate him on making a profit.

paxillin · 19/05/2017 13:57

Pound shop has umbrellas. They are new, unlike the one you broke.

TroysMammy · 19/05/2017 13:59

It could have been damaged to start with which was why it was left on a train. I'd get him a Poundland chuck away as well.

mothertruck3r · 19/05/2017 14:04

What brand was it? Perhaps you can find a secondhand one on ebay? I doubt umbrellas go for that much secondhand .

5moreminutes · 19/05/2017 14:05

Charity shop is the clear answer, unless you have several old ones knocking about at home which you just didn't take with you to work that day - replace like with like, as he has explicitly said he doesn't want a reasonably priced new one.

Mummyoflittledragon · 19/05/2017 14:13

Couldn't you give him one of these paint your own umbrellas?

To think I shouldn't have to replace my colleague's umbrella?

HelpTheTigers · 19/05/2017 14:14

Sorry OP, I was just being sarky about him. It wasn't serious, but the revenge bit might be......

HelpTheTigers · 19/05/2017 14:20

Actually, that reminds me about a (similarly mean, tightfisted) man I worked with ages ago. Some office wag filled his umbrella with the contents of the hole punch. Apparently, he flung his welly-boot at the alleged perpetrator. I would like to have been a fly on that wall, unless I was splattered by the flying welly.

RestingBitch · 19/05/2017 14:23

Get yourself down the charity shop, I'm sure they will sell them for less than the ones in primary anyway!

I can see why he's single

Jaxhog · 19/05/2017 14:24

Go to the lost property office and buy the cheapest one you can find. Then wrap it in some cheap, left over wrapping paper, with a bow.

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 19/05/2017 14:27

I can send you DD's old Hello Kitty one. Sure he'd love it.

SapphireSeptember · 19/05/2017 14:30

Nasty man! My brolly broke the other day, but still technically works, I can send it to you if you like.

Stipulating 'not a cheap Primark one' is pretty twattish behaviour, I'd go asking around charity shops to see if they have any.

Norland · 19/05/2017 14:33

Ah the old hole-punch trick. Maggots from the fishing shop is another good one (they start to pong a bit if brolly isn't opened for a couple of days)

MatildaTheCat · 19/05/2017 14:36

Don't say anything or do anything. If he mentions it smile enigmatically and say you are searching for the Right One and are hoping it won't take too long.

Of course, finding a replacement may take you longer than you thought.

TheRealPooTroll · 19/05/2017 14:36

I agree I'd get him a £2 Sports Direct one. Or one from a charity shop. And don't borrow anything from him or buy anything for him again.

Starlight2345 · 19/05/2017 14:38

I would also find the girlyist umbrella you can find x

FizzyGreenWater · 19/05/2017 14:42

'I don't want to risk getting you a style you wouldn't like. Just tell me exactly how much you paid for it and I will give you the cash to replace it'

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