A friendship ended over a $5 financial dispute, sparking a conversation about whether it's okay to borrow money from a friend.
The scenario was posted on the popular confession forum “Am I the Asshole?”, where Redditors debated who was wrong in the situation.
In a heartfelt storytime message, one woman described the situation and explained that it is about a seven-year friendship. The writer began by explaining that her friend was not financially stable when they met.
“He was struggling financially and was living paycheck to paycheck,” the Reddit user said. “At one point, his car broke down and he didn't have transportation to work, so I lent him my car and I never asked him for gas money or anything in return.”
Although some may not agree with the woman's decision, she admitted that it wasn't a big deal to help because she was in a good financial situation. However, that didn't last long. Over the years, the Reddit user found herself in a similar situation to her friend, only her friend was now in a better financial situation.
The Redditor noted: “At the time, she had started dating a guy she met online and who, a few months after they started dating, revealed to her that he was a millionaire. They married shortly after and suffice to say she hasn't had to fight since.”
Now that her friend was well-off, the Reddit user found it appropriate to borrow money from her when necessary. She always paid her friend back, but she wasn't the only one seeking loans from her. The Reddit user's friend has brothers who use her to bail them out of difficult financial situations, according to the writer, who said she never asked for more than $25 at a time.
“The last two times I asked her to borrow money, she said she didn't have it, which I thought was strange,” he confessed. “But then I asked to borrow $5 from her and she said the same thing and I thought it was strange that she told me she didn't have $5 to spare.”
The Reddit user continued: “I started to think that maybe I had forgotten to pay her back the money I owed her at some point, so I reached out to her to ask if that was the case.
“When she told me that wasn't the case (i.e. I had always paid her), I told her that I felt hurt because I felt like I needed her help with something (I used the example if I ended up in jail) that I couldn't ask her for help.” , he added.
Her friend's response was that she didn't want to be the one to “rescue everyone.” According to the poster, she used the example of her when she was struggling and said that she “had to work multiple jobs and did what she had to do,” encouraging the Reddit user to do the same.
The Redditor said she didn't want to be grouped with her friend's siblings. “I told her I loved her but she was ending the conversation and she responded that this is why money and friends should never mix,” the original poster adds.
“Since then, she reached out and said, 'I didn't deserve that conversation last night, I hope you know that,' to which I didn't respond and have no plans to,” he explained.
The Reddit user wrote that she is still upset. She knows that she “has no right” to her money, but is frustrated by her friend's treatment of her after everything the Redditor has done for her in the past.
The post sparked debate in the comments, with readers offering conflicting opinions on who was wrong.
“I would leave her alone. She is elegant now and she is no longer from your world. People need you when she doesn't have it, but when YOU don't have it…suddenly she ARE irrational and they question you,” one person commented.
Another commented: “Definitely NTA. I can't help but wonder if the rich spouse plays any role in this. I mean, I don't want you spending our (MY) money on THOSE people.”
“The moral of this story is that friendship is only as good as a friend and time changes us all,” another person proclaimed.
One person blamed the situation on her friend becoming as rich as her. “I think it's a rich thing, they tell you that financial education means never lending money to anyone,” they said.
However, someone else asked, “How often did you want to borrow $5?” “I sometimes wonder about these types of posts, because people can skew them based on their perceptions.”
“I agree. Who borrows $5 and for what reason? It's just strange,” one opponent agreed.
