I am a bad person because I finally said no

I have a long time friend, let's call him Angel (because that's his name), who alternates between saving my ass and completely pissing me off on a regular basis. He is COMPLETELY unreliable, always promising to do something and then never delivering. He borrows things and never brings them back, or else brings them back after months of me asking for it, broken or otherwise messed up. To date he's borrowed a water heater, a sprinkler, some trailer tie downs, two baby goat blankets, a large dog carrier, a tri folding ladder, and a bunch of other crap I've long since forgotten about. To date, I've gotten the dog carrier and ladder back, and the ladder was covered in acoustical ceiling spray and green paint, and the base was broken. I gave him money to buy pasture seed with so we could partner on some hay, never got the seed OR grew the hay. I bought firewood off of him, only to have him dump a bunch of 6 ft long branches in my driveway and promise to come back later to cut and stack it. Never did. When I ask him, when are you going to do that thing you said you'd do, the answer is always the same. "I'll do it when I have time."

Here's a public service announcement. You have to MAKE time to get things done. Time will never just fall into your lap, and even if it did, something else would come along and take it.

Here's another public service announcement. Don't tell me you will do something on a specific date if what you really mean is, you will do it when that magical free time appears and you have nothing else more entertaining to do while it lasts.

On the good side, when I'm in a total bind because no one else is answering the phone, I can get him to water sheep or catch them if they've escaped. I've borrowed car dollies and trailers from him and his family (and brought them back promptly and with new tires on them I might add). They've jump started my truck and pulled it out of a mudhole a time or two, and gave me a decent discount on some fence work they did for me. I give them free sheep and goats for bar-b-q and breeding. It evens out.

I put him in the catagory of Person I Like, But Don't Count On. I have a lot of friends like that. They're not bad friends, just not ones I like to rely on in a pinch, or bend over backwards for. Great for hanging out with over the grill though.

Over a month ago I told him I was selling my truck. He asked how much, I said 2500 (a full 2250 under book), he said "Oh", and I took that to mean "Oh, I'm not paying that much" because typically he doesn't pay much for anything. Thinking he was not interested, I listed it for sale on Craigslist and Thrifty Nickel. Around the first of Feb, he texts me out of the blue, asking again how much. I tell him, 2500. He wants to know what sort of "deal" I will make him, seeing as how we're friends. That kind of ticked me off. I told him, 2500 cash for a truck that lists at 4750 is a pretty good deal in my book. No no, he wants to know about me letting him pay it off.

I don't know about most people, but I am not a bank. I am not in the business of making car loans. Furthermore, the fastest way to ruin ANY friendship is by letting money come into the mix. Given I already knew how this particular friend was about doing things he said he would do, I was not inclined to let him pay the truck out, especially when you figure I need the money to pay for the wedding.

The next morning my boyfriend texts me to tell me he sold the truck, for 3000, to a guy at work. I figure Angel would understand that 3000 cash makes a lot more sense than 2500 in drug out payments, so I text him and tell him I got a cash offer that morning.

He loses his mind. I am promptly treated to almost 2 hours of guilt tripping text messages, the jist of them being I care more for money than my friends, he thought I was a better person than this but clearly I'm not, I don't appreciate his friendship, I don't care about all the stuff he's done for me over the years. I point out that he is completely unreliable and never does what he says he will, which he tries in vain to argue with his "I'll do it when I get time" logic. At this point he retreats to the "I thought I knew who you were" argument. Tells me to "have a nice life". Oh the drama. It was like arguing with a woman, constantly trying to make me feel bad so that I'll forget why I said no in the first place. I got fed up and told him that he was being childish, and the first time I tell him no he goes off on me, and if he wanted to think I was a bad person, so be it.

Well, after much more whining and bitching, I finally cave in. I told him, 2500 cash by the end of the month, and the truck stays with me. Oh, suddenly we go from I'm a money hungry a-hole to love ya baby. Uh huh.

He's been Johnny on the Spot ever since. Moved a round bale for me without my asking, which was nice. But I've yet to hear anything about any money for the truck. I suspect he will show up at the end of the month with half the money, and want more time. This time, however, I'm going to say no for good. I turned down a cash offer for more money to give him a chance, I won't do it again.

His dad gave me a go to hell look the other day when I drove by. Still wondering WTF that was about.