Small Favours

My buddy Ken called me last night and asked if I would do a favour for him this morning. Of course, I told him that I would, without asking what the favour would be, because I knew that it would be a small thing. If it were a large favour, like helping him get rid of a body, then he would have bought me a coffee and asked me in person. I asked him what time and he told me 9:00AM.

I pulled up behind his house at 8:58 and I got out of the car as he came out of his backyard with the hand dolly. We needed to take his hitch for the fifth wheel and his tool box out of the truck. It is a little heavy for one person, but it is a lot awkward. It is much easier to call up your buddy for a small favour. I will at some time need a favour from him, but more than likely in my case I will have to buy him a coffee and tell him in person.

You see, last night his sister-in-law asked Ken if he would do her a small favour. She needed the use of a pickup truck because they are getting a new bathtub. It is one of the Jacuzzi tubs, so is a little heavier and more awkward than a normal sized tub. Ken has no problem doing them a small favour, because it is the right thing to do and at some point in time, he may ask them for a small favour.

They have a daughter that works for a plumbing company and she is able to get a really good deal on the tub from the supplier. The daughter doesn’t need the tub, but she is doing her parents a small favour for being there all of the times in her life when she needed someone. That is also the right thing to do.

Her employer makes this kind of deal available to the employees because they will be grateful for this small favour and perhaps go the extra mile when he needs to ask them for a small favour. However, she has to pretend that the tub is for her when they go to pick it up, which may not be the right thing to do, but it is necessary.

The supplier is doing a favour because it makes good business sense to keep your customers happy. If it takes selling a tub at cost, then it is a small price to pay. A happy customer is after all a repeat customer. It is just a small favour.

I am not sure where all of these small favours will end up, but I am sure that there will be a lot of happy, contented people by the time this favour chain comes to its end. There is happiness on every link of the chain. I was glad to help Ken, and Ken was happy to have had help. Ken is happy to help his sister-in-law and she is happy to have had help. The daughter is happy that she could repay her mom and dad for being mom and dad. The supplier is happy because it means that his business will continue to make a profit.

Maybe, just maybe, it isn’t the big things that make a difference in a person’s life. I think that what truly makes you happy is the giving and receiving of small favours.