what's your take on this?

[bubbles4920]

a friend/colleague of my husband works away and lives by us.his wife, daughter and her friend ,both teenagers are over to visit for 2 weeks. they dont have a car here so i offered to drive the girls to get their nails done then take them all to the beach. we went to macdonalds on the way and paid for our lunch separately. his wife saw me put petrol in my car which of course isnt cheap. when we got to the beach you had to pay, not a great amount but as my purse was in the car, his wife paid for me and i said i would pay her back later.
when i dropped them off, i got my money out to pay but then realised i didnt have any change so i would pay her at the weekend. im doing a barbeque for them on sunday and arranging lunch out next week though for that its pay for yourself. so what annoys me is the fact that if i had been taken round, i would have offered to pay for lunch and or pay for the beach, not expect to be paid back for it! maybe im too soft and do too much for people.. so i am now contemplating not paying back the beach money, ie forgetting then surely it will give the wife food for thought when i dont cough up, making her think, well she did take us round etc so it doesnt matter. sorry, but how can someone expect it or is it just me? what would you do in this situation, after all i did say pay her back?!

[ChocolatChip]

'Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone'
I think you need to take that phase greatly.
As Bednobs said, you sponged off this guy for chinese. He did it out of politeness, just like you should've paid for the things out of politeness. (Well, I don't think you did, I think you did it so you could complain.)
Did they tell you to take them out? Or was it your daughters idea?
You didn't have to agree to take them did you? You could've said that you were busy.
I think that if this is the only thing you have to complain about you should count yourself lucky!

[Tups]

I've learnt over the years that if you offer to do something, you do it with good grace and expect nothing in return. Eventually, someone - and not necessarily the people you help - will do something good for you. And even if that doesn't happen, you can at least feel good that you have indeed helped others and asked for nothing in return. That feeling is priceless!

[bubbles4920]

my friend asked me round for tea, should i have to pay for it ie the chinese takeaway, no i dont think so, i also took a bottle of wine round for us all to share, typical me trying to please others and no i dont expect anything in return except the usual manners and courtesy.
i dont have a daughter btw, i think you misread the story.

[Tups]

If you offer to do something for someone, do it graciously, expecting nothing in return. There is great joy to be found in helping others in this way. Eventually, someone will do something good for you - not necessarily the people you treat with kindness; kindness can come to you from surprising directions. But don't live in expectation of it happening to you; enjoy being kind yourself and try not to feel resentment. There is no merit in good deeds that have even a hint of that.

[Tups]

If you offer to do something for someone, do it graciously, expecting nothing in return. There is great joy to be found in helping others in this way. Eventually, someone will do something good for you - not necessarily the people you treat with kindness; kindness can come to you from surprising directions. But don't live in expectation of it happening to you; enjoy being kind yourself and try not to feel resentment. There is no merit in good deeds that have even a hint of that.