Lending out “things”.
Talking about things you are experiencing can sometimes be quite difficult. Sometimes there is a figurative barrier to starting a conversation, sometimes there is a literal barrier. Because to have a conversation, you have to know someone you can speak with to begin with. If you don’t know anyone, it’s not only lonely, but you also miss that “outlet”. And the topics don’t even have to be complicated. How are you doing at school, at work, the simple things. One way in which we make contacts to lower that threshold for many people is… lend things.
Do you have games that I can borrow for a picnic session in the park? A gourmet set for a birthday? A phone for a few months? A bike?
Sure, just come by and pick it up! Please!
This way we get people to visit us, and we have a nice time together, great conversations and build contacts. Not complicated, very effective.
How often does that happen? Well, today alone a gourmet set, a picnic set, a bag with games and a telephone are being sent out.
Will everything come back in good condition? No. Sometimes things disappear or things break. Is that annoying? Yes and no. The biggest problem is that we can no longer lend it to the next person who may desperately need it. So it’s not that they “hit” us when things disappear, but they hit others. Because what we no longer have, we can no longer lend it to someone else, who might have been very happy to borrow it for a day or so. And we have to say “no” to that, which is sometimes quite painful because we know it was there…. 🙁
Anyway, does it stop us? No. On the contrary. The contacts we build with it are worth more than the stuff, the conversations are worth gold and the stuff? It’s just stuff.
Ding dong, the bell rings for the next “customer”. 🙂 We enjoy it every time.
