Is What I'm Doing Wrong?

[OwenKellogg]

Today and some other days like it I will lend a good friend or a teammate money to get food etc. The chance that they return the favor or pay me back is about 50/50 but I figure it's ok because we're teammates or good friends and usually look out for each other. Is that wrong by objectivist standards?

Also on occassion I need to borrow a piece of paper from a friend or person sitting near me. I think everyone figures it would be more trouble to pay them back the 1/4 penny than it would be to pay their debts, so is this type of thing wrong?

[Bold Standard]

I don't think it's wrong. I do the same things. Also, I don't think it's wrong to ask someone to pay you back if they've borrowed money from you (politely, of course). Especially if they show signs of having "expected" you to pay for their food without wanting to be payed back (ie, if they do that to someone every time you all go out to eat, yet you know they have money somewhere, because they're always wasting it on some frivolous thing and then showing it off to everyone, etc).

[Edit: Oh, yeah. The reason it's not wrong to be generous (to those who deserve it), I'd say, is because benevolence is in your self interest. It just makes life more pleasant, don't you think?]

[lykaiosapollo]

I think you'll find a place in the Fountainhead where Roark buys Mallory lunch and Mallory comments it's odd to find Roark playing the altruist - and Roark replies he's not, he's buying something of great value to him: Mallory's time.

Personally I enjoy doing small favours for my friends: it's a value for me to see them doing well (and of course I know they'll reciprocate, so I won't feel guilty about asking favours of them in the future). And if a friend is short on cash, I'd rather buy them a drink than drink alone

[RationalBiker]

Today and some other days like it I will lend a good friend or a teammate money to get food etc.

There have been good comments already, but I thought I would add this small distinction. It may be more accurate for you to think of it as giving them money when you are considering doing so instead of lending the money. If they pay you back, fine. If they don't, you had no expectation they would. As has been said, you need to figure out what value or investment you are really getting when you give your friends money.

But if they were my friends, I would clear up any pretense as to whether it is a loan if they only pay you back about half the time. I'm personally more inclined to just buy them lunch without any pretense of a loan for similar reasons to those mentioned in the other responses.

[psychotrope]

But if they were my friends, I would clear up any pretense as to whether it is a loan if they only pay you back about half the time. I'm personally more inclined to just buy them lunch without any pretense of a loan for similar reasons to those mentioned in the other responses.

That way you get the credit for buying them lunch, instead of them convincing themselves that you haven't done anything for them since they are going to pay you back someday.

One irony of altruism is that the "altruistic thing to do" is often not in the best interest of the recipient. For years I was an enabler for a friend who always "forgot" her wallet and promised to pay me back but rarely did. I realized that even if I subscribed to an altruistic view of the world, I wasn't acting in her best interest since I was perpetuating her cycle of dependence and lack of responsibility. I think deep down she felt that I could afford it and she couldn't, so it was okay. Either that or she really was just extremely forgetful.

In the end, doing what was in my own self-interest (not loaning to such a person), would have been in her best interest as well. It's amazing how often that's the case.