I had known Paul for almost 5 years, and both of us often talked about work, although I never asked where he worked.
- Both of us were friends because of our wives, one night both of us were kneeling in the lake house playing cardds when I noticed it was getting cold.
I asked our spouse if she thought it was getting cold. The control unit was set at seventy, however the temperature was down to sixty-5! Paul stood up and told myself and others he would look at it. I didn’t want to bother him, and he said that was what friends were for… As he was walking away, his spouse told myself and others he was the best HVAC professional in the dealer. If anyone could service our oil furnace, it was him. I went downstairs and both of us began talking. I asked why he had never told myself and others he was an HVAC professional. He said he didn’t say anything for the same reason I hadn’t mentioned I was a electrician. Too often people used friendship as a reason to use someone else’s know-how, and he didn’t want that kind of friendship. His being an HVAC professional was a convenience since both of us hung out together, even though he hoped both of us didn’t call him so both of us didn’t have to spend money the HVAC dealer. I would have never considered doing that, and I told him so. He laughed, finished the labor on the oil furnace, and said he knew that, or both of us would not be friends. I l earned a lesson about friendship that night, that I didn’t think I needed to learn; Friendship isn’t about how much you can do for each other, however spending quality time and not ruining a friendship by expecting favors.