On the Peril of Free Washing Machines

Posted on 2008/03/16 02:00:24 (March 2008).

[Thursday 13th March]
Today was my last day at work before going off to Japan, and unsurprisingly it was pretty awful. There had been a bit of a bombshell dropped the previous evening about a thing which I'd been almost entirely single-handedly responsible for, and it looks like it had gone badly wrong. The frustrating thing was it was something I had setup for another team as a favour to help them out of a tight spot - it was definitely a lesson learned for me that sometimes it really is in your best interests to just be stubborn, unhelpful and a general jobsworth about these sorts of things. Oh well. My manager very kindly played the whole thing down, and said it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, and I shouldn't let it spoil my holiday.

(I'm writing this a few days hence, from Japan, and am glad to report that it seems I have been able to put it to one side and get on with enjoying my holiday - I guess I'll just have to pick up the pieces when I get back)

It brought to mind the time when we were moving out of our flat in Pangbourne before we headed off to Japan back in 2005. We had a perfectly good washing machine that we'd bought and probably only used for about a year. It was, however, seemingly impossible to sell or even give away a second hand washing machine. So I offered it to the landlady for free, telling her that the next tenant could have it (the flat itself didn't come with a washing machine, so that made sense), but she refused, saying that once if the next tenant had a washing machine they'd expect it to be maintained etc. I thought she was being rather stubborn and closed-minded at the time, but in hindsight I now understand her prudence.

It's the sort of thing that really deserves a proverb, although I can't think of one for it - I suppose it might be a cousin of "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" - perhaps "don't give away a horse without a well defined SLA". Somehow it is not quite as pithy. So I suppose a new Meaning of Liff entry is required:

Goldsithney n. When something originally done as a favour turns into an ongoing obligation and/or goes horribly wrong.

Goldshitney, I love it already... I actually had several cases of Goldshitney in my new enterprise but until the end of the month they cannot be accounted for on the page, but I know PERFECTLY how you feel!

Posted by Lox at 2008/03/16 08:48:47.

Can I suggest an appropriate jerry-built proverb for this: "A bird in the hand is a turd in the end" :-)

Posted by Bryan at 2008/03/16 23:22:11.

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