Word about the advance
“I'll settle up, just transfer it.” When my favorites say that, I quickly open my banking app to dutifully arrange the transfer. Ninety-nine point nine percent of my friends are in my address book, they pay so often, yes. But with that one percent, things go horribly wrong.
And that's why I occasionally have the status of a bad payer. I really don't do it on purpose, but that Random Reader is permanently missing. At my previous job, I had a reliable colleague I could count on in the world of random readers, but at Amayzine, they're a bit cut from the same cloth as I am. And I'm of course talking about the absence of those stupid digital boxes and not about my status as a bad payer.
Look, I've always felt a bit like the forgetful dodo when it comes to repayments, but today I saw a study. And because of that study, dear readers, I feel like the worst person on earth. I am capable of buying recycled paper right now to write handwritten apology notes to everyone who fell victim to my practices. Do you know what's going on? DirectResearch conducted a study. Sounds logical, right? But they researched lending money. And one third of those lenders find it terrifying if the money takes more than a week to land in the rightful bank account or the right wallet. Goodness gracious, I am the worst friend ever.
Well, not entirely, because 61 percent of the Dutch sometimes completely forget to return the amount to the lender and 83 percent still have to repay an amount up to 20 euros. Yes, you too, yes.
Where do we scrounge all that money from? First of all, groceries, 47 percent to be exact. I find that strange. I do my groceries alone, so the only one eligible for a loan is that unknown, gray man with a checkered scarf at the checkout. And secondly: joint gifts. Look, this seems a bit vaguer and more familiar to me. Even though I'm usually the one who gets stuck when it comes to group gift shopping. I have the you-are-so-original-in-ideas-for-gifts stamp and live in a city, and then you're in trouble. In this case, I have to go door-to-door to collect for my goal a.k.a. replenishing the bank account. In number three, you help someone in financial trouble. Sounds nice, but I'm still waiting for lunch, the glass of wine and the heavenly truffle risotto (has been repaid, Kiek). But that's not included, relief all around here.
To comfort the lenders, I propose that we make today National Repayment Day. It's nice if they suddenly have some extra money in their account on a Friday. For convenience, we just forget that this is their own euros. You feel a lot better because of it.
