Flex and Frooms, Flex and Frooms. This is the Flex and Frooms catch up podcast.
What happens when you attempt a good deed and it backfires in the most upsetting way. There are very few situations that I can recall doing something like this personally. But what I do know is that when it comes to dealing with strangers, I definitely have to pick and choose my altruism. Sometimes it's not worth it. I saw this TikTok from a user called k eight two seven three seven, and all I could think is, this is the moral dilemma to beat out all moral dilemmas, and
it's altruism unfortunately done wrong. She posts a picture of her in a phone store and the text on screen says, you drop a stranger's phone while taking a photo of her at the Louver in Paris, and now you're paying thirty nine euro for her new screen protector.
No, babe, what is the right thing to do in this situation?
Now? I thought about it for a sec because I am definitely a throw money at the problem type of babe. Okay, Like in a lot of situations, I'm like, what can I pay to fix this? At the moment, because the emotional cost. I can't bear it. I really can't. I'm not going to go back and forth on you and like what's it worth? And what is it You've asked me to take a photo? I've dropped the phone.
It's cracked. Am I'm so sorry? Like sorry, it is not enough? What do you need?
What can I How can I make restitution? How can I make you feel comfortable about this?
Right?
When I actually get to the core of what I feel, part of me is like, is this not the risk you take when asking a stranger to do something for you? Like I feel like you can't put the whole responsibility of your whole device and the life span of your device in the hands of a stranger in that moment, Which is also why I rarely ask strangers to take photos of me, because the photo will be bad number one, but number two, people have slippery fingers, fingers butter fingers.
I just don't think. I think that's everyone knows that's the risk. If I give you my phone you could drop it. What would you do in this instance?
For me?
I gotta say, like this, that's on you. You just giving the phone back? I don't know. I mean if.
If the tree falls in the forest and no one hears it. If I drop a random person's phone in another country, nah, I think in theory it pisces me off to think that I would then have to pay because I was doing you a favor.
This is a horrible situation, but I probably would.
I would throw like a give them twenty euro and just say I'm not gonna go and fix it, like can you fix it?
I'll give you a little cat, but also a screen protector, like did you just chip the edge or if the screen cracked? Because we can't really do much either way. I think that's where my head went. Also, like what can we really do? Like if someone dropped your cleaner strata dimond encrusted water bottle and then the lid doesn't twist on anymore, Like what are we meant to do about that?
I'll make it of ours, But yeah, I'd be pissed. But this is a bit This is expensive and why were you touching it so it's expensive? Why was this is a different level of expensive? This is like this is an ornament, this is a piece of art. You can always buy another iPhone.
I say every now and then that I really don't want to be sat in an exit row because I can't trust me to help anyone.
In the kind of need I like the leg bro.
Yeah. And similarly, this is one of those situations where I found myself having to push past the part of myself that wants to be a bystander for fear of something like this happening, for fear of my altruism going wrong. And now I'm more liable when I could have just minded my own business, do you know what I mean? And Like, it's not always extreme circumstances, right, Like Let's say you are walking out of the women's bathroom and then you see four guys are yelling at a girl
and she's like crying and she looks really meek. You're like, okay, I'm gonna step in, Like what is this about? Come to find out she's a tenzy on the pickpocket in all of them. Now what Now, Now I'm implicated. Now I look like I've got a problem. Do you know what I'm saying. Let's say you've got out on a limb and you have decided to pick up your friend before you go to dinner, but she lives thirty minutes in the wrong direction. Now, you've gotten in the car,
you've picked her up. You're driving, you're driving, you're driving. You're laughing, you're laughing, you're laughing. You don't see the pothole that you end up driving into your tires popped.
Oh surely that's on the council.
Have you guys seen Oh my god, anyone who's in Eastern Suburbs bloody olds out there road only way to get into BONDI tell me why all along that road the most hectic, vile potholes you've ever seen.
You've been on that road? Of course they are shocking. It is shocking. It's very sick. Holes are so Sydney. Potles are crazy Sydney. That's not that's not normal. It's all the plane trees. I think, yeah, really, I'm like, this is a world. I'm distancing myself.
Maybe this is this is well to do something this the maseratis here, guys like, you can't be having potholes in the road.
Oh okay, okay, okay.
Let's say let's say you are on a flight and you're in the middle seat and the flight attendant has come and they're asking like, who wants to tea coffee? Who wants a drink or whatever, and the person in the window to avoid them reaching over you, You've decided to help the flight attendant and give them their drink. In doing so, picking it up off the tray because you didn't know, like should I grab the tray or just the cup? I don't know. Now you've spilt it all over the person in the aisle.
What are you doing? God? I just I just I melt at the thought. I melt at the thought. Geez, just don't help anyone. Guys, stay in your lane, stay in your lane.
Staging your honestly, is so scary to think about, and yet this is how I think we should be using our brains. Because you want to feel prepared when the time comes. You're like some froomes warm me about this sign.
This is a Seinfeld episode type of thing.
I don't know what that means.
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