Imagine that you are planning a long and exciting cross-country trip by car. What is the first thing you need to take care of? Make a travel plan? Buy a travel map in case the Internet is unavailable? Think about places to stay overnight? No, you didn't guess at all!
The most important thing is to take care of the availability of the car itself, because this is the thing without which the trip will not be possible, per se. But a close friend of the author of our story today, who was going on a trip seriously expected that their friend would lend them a car. And they were incredibly offended after facing a flat-out refusal.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post has a longtime friend who recently asked permission to borrow their car for a cross-country road trip
Image credits: Tobi (not the actual photo)
The car-owner, however, wasn't happy with this idea, as they felt anxiety over having it somewhere many miles away
Image credits: [deleted]
Image credits: Leah Newhouse (not the actual photo)
So the author refused to lend the car and tried to explain their own feelings to the friend - but to no avail
Image credits: [deleted]
The friend claimed that the author was petty and selfish, literally ruining their dream
So, the Original Poster (OP) has an old and bosom friend who recently approached them and said that they had planned a long cross-country road trip, and that to successfully implement the plan, they needed a car. And since the traveler didn’t have their own vehicle, they expected that the author would lend them theirs.
It’s not that the OP was a greedy person - they just put a lot of effort, energy and money into this car and maintaining it. And in principle, the very idea that someone would drive it thousands of miles from the owner didn’t inspire them at all.
In general, as you probably guessed, the original poster rejected this plea, for which they received a whole bucket of criticism from a friend. During the convo, the author learned a lot of new things about themselves - in particular, that they are so selfish, and in general a bad person, ready to ruin someone else's dream because of their own pettiness.
So the OP feels at a crossroads (much like at the end of the Furious 7 movie, where the paths of Dom Toretto and Brian O’Conner finally diverge). On the one hand, the author understands perfectly well that their car is their private property. On the other hand, they realize that a final refusal can seriously undermine many years of this friendship.
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Well, even if we ignore emotions, any cross-country road trip is a hell of a lot. That's more than one and a half thousand miles, almost as the crow flies, if you count from coast to coast, or more than a thousand from Mexico to Canada.
And this is only one way, but for the return journey, multiply everything by two. And where’s the guarantee that such a long trip will be completely without incident? And that after this the car will not require any expensive repairs?
So people in the comments to the original post also sincerely believe that the very idea of borrowing a friend’s car for such a trip looks completely weird and inappropriate. "This is not a reasonable request. Who the heck plans a cross country road trip with no car, and expects a friend to give them theirs? Just say no," one of the commenters wrote.
And the respondents are pretty sure that the author’s friend is simply trying to save money by using their car, instead of renting it somewhere. “Your friend's expectation is ridiculous. They can rent a car if they need one,” someone added quite wisely. “Let them rent a car for THEIR planned road trip,” another responder replied.
By the way, if you calculate the likely costs of renting a car, then the reasons for this friend’s persistence become way more clear. “Renting a car and driving across the United States can cost around $1,615, including rental fees, gas costs, and other factors,” the dedicated article on The Travel claims. “Renting a car for a road trip involves insurance, deposits, and limitations on roads and mileage."
In general, commenters do believe that the friend is shamelessly trying to exploit the original poster, and urge them not to lend the car under any circumstances. “Okay, this person IS NOT YOUR FRIEND - read that again,” someone wrote in the comments, and it’s hard to disagree with this, isn’t it? And what do you, our dear readers, think about this story?
Most commenters, however, said that the author was 100% right in not giving the vehicle, and urged them not to succumb to any coaxing
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
