Karma Cleanser - January 10 2007
Will it come back to bite you?
Dear Karma Cleanser:
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In response to “Stop It, You’re Both Pretty” (in which old friends Anne and Beulah had gotten their other friends tangled up in their fight): I was on the opposite side of the same argument. I got into a fight with my best friend from high school, and it ended up costing me not only her friendship, but also my relationship, my apartment and almost $2,000 in legal bills.
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Looking back on it now, the story sounds ridiculous, but my best friend and I were fighting at first over a boy, then things got ugly when she stopped paying me the rent she owed me. (She was also my roommate.) I finally told her not to worry about the money she owed me as long as we could stay friends. She said that was fine — but then went out of her way to sleep with my new boyfriend to get her “revenge.” That’s when I sued her.
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A year later, I am living in a trailer and have no friends left. I think my karma has been permanently scarred by the fight and its aftermath. How can I now get back on my feet?
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– -- Double-Crossed in a Double-Wide
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We’re not buying your story, partly because you obviously believe that you were completely blameless in all of this, and also because two grand sounds awfully low for a lengthy legal battle. Your karma will recover once you admit your own fault in the fractured friendship.
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Dear Karma Cleanser:
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I was at the airport when I sat my bag down on a chair and turned to check on my departing flight. I came back to the chair and saw that my bag was open. My cell phone and day planner had both been nicked — all in the course of about four minutes.
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I reported the incident to security, and they said this kind of thing happens all the time. I didn’t have time to stick around and file a report because I was about to miss my flight.
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On the plane, an elderly gentleman was sitting next to me. I was pretty mad the whole flight and relieved when the man didn’t try to talk to me. After we landed, he got off the plane before me, and when he left, I noticed that his wallet was in his seat. I caught up with him in the terminal and gave it back to him. He was so happy, he gave me $50 on the spot.
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I guess you could say this is karma in action, though the $50 doesn’t quite cover the cost of a new cell phone.
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– -- First in Flight
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Kudos to you for not keeping the wallet, as tempting as it may have been. You were doubly fortunate, because we’d usually gladly pay the person next to us 50 bucks just to keep quiet the whole flight.
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Been bad? karmacleanser@gmail.com.