Things you lend out and never see again....

Books n clothes

I do not generally loan things out as they never get returned! My neighbour has a 'Loan Book' that he logs everything in he lends out along with the date & as everyone knows about it they are not surprised when he asks for anything not returned by the outstanding date. A simple solution that is effective.

I Loaned really treasured books to a work colleague years ago as she was complaining she had nothing to read. I asked for them back about five or six months later and she gave me an extremely blank look and walked off. The following week she handed me about half a dozen battered old paperbacks (some from when they were stationed in Cyprus with the army ~years beforehand) none of which were mine. They were simply not my kind of books, just cheap romance novels from charity shops. I was heartbroken- but it was a lesson to me, I never loan books to anyone that I cannot trust to look after them nowadays. We are reluctant to lend our neighbour any power tools also, because he usually manages to break them without saying a word when he hands them back. I also loaned an ex friend some new socks once, she made no attempt to return them back to me. Note to self- never a lender or a borrower be.

I think I’ve probably got some of your books here. People keep lending me them and I’m always sure I’ll remember who 6 months down the line when I’ve finished it.....

I love the idea of taking a photo of the item with the borrower Purpledaffodil, but wonder if I would ever do it!

My son's friend was driving around Australia when he was flagged down, in the middle of nowhere, by an elderly Aboriginal gentleman who had a burst tyre. The man had no spare, but pointed out that the young man did. "Will you help me to fit it on my car?" the Australian asked him. "But it's MY spare tyre!" he said. "I can't give it to you."
"But you don't need it, and I do," was the reply. "When you need a spare tyre, you can ask someone else for one. I need one now."
The Aboriginals believe very much in communal property, especially those who live in the outback.
I think there must be some 'closet Aboriginals' living here, judging from the horror stories on this page!

My daughter is a devil for this, lent her numerous air pumps for the kids paddling pools never to be seen again. Loaned her my £600 laptop which she eventually said she would pay me for, never seen a penny yet she thinks she paid for it somehow!

It was signed by the great man himself Paperbackwriter and collected by someone my dad knew very well (sadly now deceased) who worked in the business. I wish I could say I had met him but sadly not.

I now say to my husband we have no sat nav etc etc so no one can supposedly borrow it except for v close family.

When my youngest DD had outgrown her carrycot my SiL asked to borrow it as she was pregnant. When I asked for its return she blatantly said she'd sold it. She never was my Dear SiL even before that.

Gillybob - was the Freddie Mercury biog signed by him or the author? If the author was Lesley-Ann Jones it would be easy to get another. If Freddie, not so easy!

More books and records than I want to think about; Bex Bissel carpet cleaner came back with handle broken, Vax vacuum and carpet shampooer returned dirty and never worked properly again - had been used without the filter - expensive paint stripper returned with motor burnt out 'Oh it was working ok when we finished with it'.... Polti Vaporetto steam cleaner returned filthy and smelly, brush clogged with god knows what, almost made me heave, and person had to be asked about six times to return it after almost a year. At this point I decided I wasn't going to loan anything to anybody ever again. I have relented with AC as they are careful but for others I simply say I'm using it - yes, for the next five years, every day!

Oh that's almost theft Littleannie

In fact....no, not almost theft...actual theft.

A few weeks ago I was standing, umbrella in hand, by the door of a shop waiting for the torrential rain to ease. A lady came out who had no coat on. She asked me if I would lend her my umbrella so that she could take her shopping to her car. She said she would get her umbrella out of the car, and bring mine back to me. Needless to say she didn't come back, and I had to walk home in the pouring rain!

For me, it has been mostly books. I want to share but have learned the hard way not to lend any books. They never come back, becoming the possession of their new owner and lent on to others, never to return!
Once I pointed out to someone my book still on her bookshelf I opened it and even showed her my own name written on the fly leaf.....she claimed I must have given it to her and refused to give it back!

When we were getting married in 1973 we knew we were taking up a posting in Germany. Our best man asked if he could look after our stereo system while we were away. Three years later we got home and tried to get it back. The borrower wouldn't answer calls, and avoided us at all costs. The stereo had been top of the range and we couldn't replace it.

I gave my daughters doll house that my dad had made for her, to my best friends GD on the proviso we got it back when she had finished playing with it, as my dad had since died so it had sentimental value. After a couple of years I asked if she still played with it to he told it had been thrown out. To this day 25 years later, my daughter (45) still has not forgiven me.

What really annoys me is when I lend something and stress that it is a loan and I will want it back and I still don't get it returned. I hate having to write my name in books and even more hate having to ask for returns. What's wrong with people? Even my best friend gave away the ski gear I loaned her for her child as she knew it was too small for any of mine so assumed I wouldn't want it back. Another friend asked to borrow it and first friend couldn't remember whst she'd done with it. VERY DISRESPECTFUL.

I’ve ‘leant’ my daughter various things over the years.... the latest being my hair drier....it never came back and I had to buy a new one. It’s quite a joke in the family that if she borrows anything, then it ‘goes to its last home’

Long, long ago when I was in my 20s coming back from abroad I had no money to get home from the airport. My card had been swallowed up by the hole in the wall before the outbound flight. A kind girl who had been in the same hotel lent me £10 - worth a lot more then than now! When I returned home I sent a cheque back to the address she had given me only for it to be returned as the wrong address. I still feel guilty that I couldn't repay her and mortified for her to think I had no intention of repaying. I can't understand people who don't have a conscience.

We host volunteers who lodge with us in exchange for work in our house and more usually in the garden. I realise this isn't quite the same but we show them where the tools are and if we don't carefully check the garden after the job has been done, we find loppers, trowels, spades and forks in amongst the shrubs months later rusting away or they don't turn up at all.
What is it about other peoples stuff which seems to end up like this!

ALmost 50 years ago I had the perfect pair of beige suede sandals. I wore them once, lent them to a fellow student and never got them back......... I can still see them!

I havnt lost too many things, possibly because people seem reluctant to borrow stuff, or if they do (mainly grandson and parner) I just give it to them but my poor husband has lost heaps of power tools and most of them are to our son in law.
every time he needs something we go round to daughters house (actually ours because they are renting it) and check underneath and if he is lucky he finds what he is missing. to date he has totally lost a bench saw, two long handled tree loppers, an expensive set of screwdrivers and a lawn mower.

My next door neighbour frequently "borrows" (her word) my OH.
She is single and OH is happy to help.
So far he keeps coming back.........dammit!

My BiL borrowed a karcher washer and returned it with the cable completely gouged and damaged. it cost us £60 to replace the cord and he denied all knowledge.