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MooseMan3000 · 09-07-2005, 07:19 PM

So here's the situation. My brother in law and his best friend both own landscaping companies. Tonight they're working out an estimate to completely redo a little league field. They have all the measurements taken, but they're having a bit of a hard time actually working things out.

So my brother in law calls me up and asks if I can come help them out. I tell him, "sure, I'll be right over." I get there, watch a little TV with them, play with the dog a little, then get to work. I'm sitting on the couch while XXX is playing (yes, the one with Vin Diesel. Heh) working out some figures. I spend maybe an hour and a half doing a little algebra, a little geometry, and a lot of estimating, and I come up with some numbers. I checked them twice, just to make sure I had everything right. If the estimate is too low, they're screwed, so I wanted to be careful.

Then we sit around and talk for a while, watch some more TV, whatnot. While we're doing this, I notice the friend counting out a few bills. I didn't expect any payment, but I figure "cool, he'll give me a few dollars for gas." So as I'm getting ready to go, he hands me the money, I pocket it without checking how much it is, and I head out the door.

Now here's where it gets tricky. I got home, took it out of my pocket to put away, and I find that he paid me not a few dollars, but rather quite a few. Forty-two of them, in fact. He paid me $42 for what amounted to about 45 minutes of actual work, which I wasn't expecting to be paid for anyway. I would mention it to him, except I saw him counting it, so I know he knew how much he gave me.

So what do I do? I have a few options that I can see.

1) Keep it and don't mention it. Owe him a favor or two.
2) Give most (or all) of it back. Except I don't want to make him feel weird about it, so this is probably out.
3) Give it to his fiance, and tell her not to tell him about it. That way he feels like he gave me adequate compensation, and I don't feel like a dick for taking so much money from them.

Any thoughts? I'll probably give me brother in law a call tomorrow and ask what he'd do (as he knows the other guy much better than I do), but I'm curious what y'all think. I'm buggered. I really don't want to take that much money for so little work, but I also appreciate his gesture, and I don't want to turn him down.

09-07-2005, 07:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
MooseMan3000 wouldn't mind being a ninja. Location: Maine, the Other White State.	What's the etiquette on returning money? So here's the situation. My brother in law and his best friend both own landscaping companies. Tonight they're working out an estimate to completely redo a little league field. They have all the measurements taken, but they're having a bit of a hard time actually working things out. So my brother in law calls me up and asks if I can come help them out. I tell him, "sure, I'll be right over." I get there, watch a little TV with them, play with the dog a little, then get to work. I'm sitting on the couch while XXX is playing (yes, the one with Vin Diesel. Heh) working out some figures. I spend maybe an hour and a half doing a little algebra, a little geometry, and a lot of estimating, and I come up with some numbers. I checked them twice, just to make sure I had everything right. If the estimate is too low, they're screwed, so I wanted to be careful. Then we sit around and talk for a while, watch some more TV, whatnot. While we're doing this, I notice the friend counting out a few bills. I didn't expect any payment, but I figure "cool, he'll give me a few dollars for gas." So as I'm getting ready to go, he hands me the money, I pocket it without checking how much it is, and I head out the door. Now here's where it gets tricky. I got home, took it out of my pocket to put away, and I find that he paid me not a few dollars, but rather quite a few. Forty-two of them, in fact. He paid me $42 for what amounted to about 45 minutes of actual work, which I wasn't expecting to be paid for anyway. I would mention it to him, except I saw him counting it, so I know he knew how much he gave me. So what do I do? I have a few options that I can see. 1) Keep it and don't mention it. Owe him a favor or two. 2) Give most (or all) of it back. Except I don't want to make him feel weird about it, so this is probably out. 3) Give it to his fiance, and tell her not to tell him about it. That way he feels like he gave me adequate compensation, and I don't feel like a dick for taking so much money from them. Any thoughts? I'll probably give me brother in law a call tomorrow and ask what he'd do (as he knows the other guy much better than I do), but I'm curious what y'all think. I'm buggered. I really don't want to take that much money for so little work, but I also appreciate his gesture, and I don't want to turn him down.