Friendly Help

A curious aspect of friendship is the exchange of favors. In healthy friendships, favors are traded and negotiated without bookkeeping or accounting. Occasionally, that system of trading degrades into heated barter or anger.	Friendly Help	Details	Value
	a ride to the local airport	the airport is 14 miles away	$4
	house-sit for 5 days	the house is 5 miles away from yours. You have your own home. collect the mail, water the plants, feed the cat, leave the cat litter alone, sodas & cable, but no pool, pinball machine, parties or DSL	$24
	haircut	amateur. Don't cut her ear, or other big errors. no body hair. haircutter owns scissors/clippers, cut party sweeps up.	boy cut $4
	haircut		girl cut $16
	help move	8 hours, property 90% boxed & labeled, no cleaning	$44
	perform expertise: installing car alarm, configuring scanner	car, electrical, sewing, financial or computer, 2 hour job	$19
	run to store	buy cat food & toilet paper for sick friend, friend stays home	$5
	save seats in a theatre	save 4 seats by yourself, opening weekend, for 15 minutes before the start	$5 total
	borrow $100	for 10 days, duration set at borrowing, repay in full	$4
	borrow $8 until ATM visit	less than six hours	$2
	trivial embarrassing information	something on your face	$1
Everyone has experienced feeling cheated or shortchanged while offering a favor or receiving one. Sometimes it comes down to a simple difference in the value of various actions. I compiled this list of values in June to provide a neutral online resource. These values are mine, and those of my close friends.	confidence boosting information	"Monica likes you", "You nabbed the Henricksen account"	$3
	serious & awkward embarrassing information	someone was with your wife	$95
	wait around for the cable guy	3 hours alone at friend's house	$12
	post bail	$1000 bail, you get it back in four weeks, pick him up from jail	$50
	furniture storage	table, four chairs & dresser in garage, 6 months.	$18
	borrow under-needed car for 5 days	30 miles/day returned clean and full of gas, no air-conditioning	$110
	cigarette	not last one	$ .25
	use of your room for intimate privacy during a party	less than one hour, not spoiling your own action	$7
	"borrow" a condom	not last one	$2
	borrow a CD	you aren't likely to ever see the CD again	$7
	using your shower	..and not your deodorant	$1
	burn a CD for you	audio, not a mix. yes, this is illegal, burner provides blank	$2
	using your video-camera	returned unbroken, 2 days	$10
	listening to story of heartbreak or financial ruin	2 hours, little advice of value	$8
	babysitting	you like kids, the kid likes TV, four hours	$13
	check email or ebay at your house	10 minutes	$1
	using your washer & dryer	3 loads, use house soap and fabric softener	$4.50
	get your work discount	$60 saved	$12
	sober designated driver	4 hours at a local bar, no restaurant, three friends	$18
	least-drunk driver	5 miles, two stops, three friends	$13
	cleaning up their vomit	no curry or other staining contents, lingering smell, not in your bed, not on carpet	$7
	fake girlfriend foursome dinner-date with parents	$30/plate restaurant, 2 hours, parents pay, no drinks	$91
	fake girlfriend company Christmas party	Not at bosses table, $30/plate restaurant, DJ, 3 hours, company pays, 2 dances, drinks	$32
The dollar amounts are disturbing to some people. To them I suggest converting these dollar amounts to "buying them a bottle of wine", "making them some brownies", or filling up their gas tank after you used their truck.	fake girlfriend high-school reunion	$15/plate restaurant, DJ, 3 hours, date pays, 4 dances, drinks	$28
	borrowing sweater, coat or dress	three days, no visible stains	$4
	supporting a friend in the face of physical confrontation	no other friendly support, no blood spilled, sober	$9
	use of swimming pool	2 people, 3 hours, no kids or barbecue	$8
	cover my shift	not holiday, 8 hour or shorter shift	$6
	borrow truck for 3 hours	the truck is picked up and returned without effort	$16
	lie to her boss	lie to an acquaintance over the phone, not a convoluted lie	$2.50
	let sleep on couch 5 days on a tourist trip to Washington D.C.	The host is busy with school / work. Half of the meals are out of host's fridge. Host has other friends in town	$57
	let sleep on couch 31 days in home town	maximum of 12 hours/day in the house, clean up a little. No guests. Rent is $400 per person	$150

If you have any other favors that you have asked for or performed for someone in the past, please email me and I will try to include your situation in my table. Also, if you think these prices are outrageous, let me know what you think is fair. Furthermore, I am going to start a log of amazing stories of favor-granting and posting them next to this, so if you would like to share your story, I'll place it with the valuable friends listing. I love getting email from real people: write Rob@Cockeyed.com

Friends do favors for one another, and we usually don't expect anything in return. Courteous friendships are dependant on an elastic network of understanding, communication and shared experiences. For most people, friends are one of their most treasured assets.