The Case of a Vanishing Friend (after borrowing Money)

This is the first time that I'll be writing my views on personal finance inside a blog. It may come from a naive mind but it's base on experience. It has been my long time dream to share my ideas and thoughts about personal finance. Feel free to drop in your comments.


Yesterday, after doing my grocery shopping, I had my snack (merienda) at McDonald's Glorietta. On the table next to mine sat three college students (all girls) wearing uniforms in a white dress. I overheard one of the girls sharing her stories regarding one of her friends. How that friend borrowed Php1,000 from her to buy herself a new dress she'll be using in a party. After that, she borrowed Php800 again from her to buy a pair of shoes to complement her dress. After the said borrowings, the said friend of her slowly dissapears and she never heard from her again. After hearing her story, I thought why she let the said friend of hers abuse her generosity? Doesn't she have any ways to confront her friend? Or maybe the said friend really doesn't have any plans to pay her at all. I looked the said girl and wonder if she doesn't have any financial problems at all? (as most students do, since their expenses are often shouldered by their parents). I may sound harsh and bitter here, but back then when i was still a student, I was more lenient towards spending money, until I tried how it is to be a "working" student.

Yes, I tried working during daytime and attend school at night. I first worked as a trimmer on one of a garments factory near our school. I get paid 50 cents for trimming excess threads on a child's jacket. The finish product after going through Quality Assurance or Q.A. are shipped to Germany. It's only on a consignment basis. So, there were days, even months, that I don't have work if they don't have any orders coming for the said product. Since most of my classmates are working student, I asked for their help to find me a job. I landed as a data encoder, this help me honed my typing skills, but the pay is based on each documents you typed. sometimes, we get paid 1 peso per document, most of the time, we only get a few cents for each documents we typed.

Looking back, I really appreciate where I came from. When I was newly employed, (after graduating from college) I had the same experience with one of my colleague, but it was only Php200 that she borrowed from me, and she called me to apologize since she wasn't able to pay me. After that, I never heard from her again, Cellphones where a privilege back then and I don't have any other ways to contact her, so I just let it go. I learned from that experience. Today, I still have friends - but only few or selected ones whom I can trust and who have the same values such as mine when it comes to money.


I just hope that girl that I overheard talking about her experience from her abusive friend would learn her lesson one day - once she starts working on her own and earn her income.