I’m only answering the last question. Were I in Jonathan’s enviable shoes, the $30k check would be just the beginning. The mortgage would also be paid off, and $100k would be going into trusts for each of the kids’ educations (that’s $100k each).
And hell yes, I’d be delighted to consider it all a gift, and to pay all of the taxes involved.
There’s a time to become prudent and conservative with this fortune, but there’s also a time to go crazy generous with the family that put themselves out for me for a year. We’re probably not even finished with my first million with the $230k + a mortgage.
All parties in this story are tacky. Jonathon shouldn’t have tried to pay them back with money. Patrick and Beverley shouldn’t accept Jonathon’s check. Sometimes, money is just gross.
Jonathon should show his appreciation by arranging something for them that doesn’t make it seem like he’s tallied up his bill and this is what he thinks he owes. The actual dollar amount doesn’t matter, because honestly, Jonathon still doesn’t have enough money to pay them back, but Jonathon owes them a chance to accept his gift without feeling like it’s paying off an overdue bill.
Patrick, who apparently does have an itemized figure in his head, is just going to be miserable no matter what, so Jonathon should do the gracious thing and let Patrick sulk on his own.
I vote they all take a nice ride on the Delta Queen and talk about where they want to build their vacation homes.
Jonathan’s friends went above and beyond for him, and when he was able to return their kindness, he did the bare minimum. Patrick is entitled to his feelings, though he’d be a douche if he voiced them.
The minimum was 0. Jonathan was told he didn’t have to pay rent.
Patrick gets a guy out of his house he didn’t want and gets 30k to set up his man-cave. It’s not a bad deal IMO. Jonathan has paid much more than the value of his living conditions for that time.
He was specifically not indigent, Patrick is wrong to think he saved Jonathon from homelessness. Jonathon had other options, he accepted Beverly’s generous offer.
I think Patrick can screw off. I think Jonathon could have offered more and maybe he will be generous to Beverly in time, who knows.
Lesson to would-be housing-heroes: Make a rule. If your friend buys lottery tickets, they are half yours. Offer to pay for the tickets, or agree that the free rent should at least cover a few lottery ticket purchases.
A lot of colorful misdirection in the OP. But Johnathan owes Patrick and Beverly exactly the same amount that he owed them before he won the money.
Nothing.
He is very stupid to have offered $30,000 to pay a debt that he does not owe because it is an admission that some debt is owed. That opens everything up for negotiation and feeds lawyers.
What did he owe before he won the money, nothing. What does he now owe? Nothing.
Should of, could of, would of, be nice to have done, matters not at all.
Nail Patrick in a scaphism boat and charge Patrick for the mead and honey, leave him in the hot sun and run away with Beverly.
Nonsense. Jonathan got a windfall of money and there is nothing wrong with spreading it around. I can think of few people on earth who would find a gift of cash in this instance “gross”.
I’m with Patrick on this one. Johnny stayed in his house and ate his food for a year. Lottery aside, Jonathan had a moral obligation to repay that debt when he back financially solvent again, no matter the fact that it was offered for free. Now that he’s in a situation where it really is reasonable for him to repay it, Patrick is completely right in expecting the money back. The fact that Pat and Bev put Jon up for a year, and he took no consideration of that beyond what he owed would show me that he wasn’t really grateful.
If I was Patrick, after having had to deal with this guy for a year, I’d be happy to get him the hell out of my house and my life. Friendship “dialing back” is completely reasonable.
Patrick has no right to expect anything from Jonathan who is quite the stingy prick offering them .03% of his windfall. I’m sure Johnathan was using much more than .03% of the value of his friends’ property when he needed help.
Still Patrick can always blow a few grand on a couple of thugs and have Jonathan severely beaten.
Of course then, while Jonathan lies in a coma in hospital, his lawyer reveals that, “If only he had signed that $10,000,000 check he had made out for you before this tragedy…”
I think Patrick was far more charitable to Jonathon when Jonathon had no money or place to stay. Providing him shelter was a larger share of Patrick’s wealth than the puny $30K was of Jonathon’s post-win wealth. $30K was stingy. I would expect 6 figures, maybe $250K at least.
This is the worst time possible for Patrick to dial back the friendship. Even if Jonathan doesn’t give him any more checks, I’d expect that he’d pay for some dinners and concerts and other things. Presumably Jonathan doesn’t have any millionaire friends who can also pay to get backstage passes to see Bruce Springsteen or other expensive stuff like that, so if he doesn’t want to go alone he’ll probably pay for a friend to go along.
I can understand Patrick feeling a little insulted, I think I might in his place, but then I’d also realize that my feelings are a bit unreasonable. Jonathan wouldn’t owe him anything if he had moved out because he found a job and cheap apartment.
While it’s true that Jonathan doesn’t owe Patrick and Beverly anything, he is being a selfish jerk.
If I were Patrick or Beverly, I’d likely have thrown the check back in his face, it’s an insult. Better not to get anything at. It’s like leaving a waitress a three cent tip.
If I won that much money I couldn’t imagine not sharing with my friends, and friends who did so much for me? I’d feel like a selfish, ungrateful bitch for not sharing generously.
Ten percent, or $10 million is not an unreasonable amount to give to such friends.
For those who generally advocate for a higher gift to the friends, I’m curious if you had considered whether giving a large gift – say, in the millions of dollars – to the couple would have impacts beyond this immediate question of being given a place to live with these people.
For example, Jonathan surely has more people than just this couple who have done something to benefit him. His college professor who gave him a break to let him re-take the test that allowed him to graduate, his sister who shared her ice cream with him when he was 7, the beer buddy who loaned him the $5 to go buy the lottery ticket in the first place, etc.
In my opinion, if someone starts taking the position that a windfall requires them to be extraordinarily generous (as in, giving a substantial premium over the value of fair compensation for the favors granted) in one case, then an awful lot of people can claim that they are being treated unfairly if they think they are owed more for some favor given at some point. “Remember when I let you use my car to drive to that job interview, and you used $5 worth of gas that I paid for? Well, I think you owe me $1,500.” (Which is a similar markup between $30k and $10m that some have suggested.)
Jonathan can quickly find himself with many hungry, unreasonable mouths to feed. That’s why I advocate for much more restraint from Jonathan.
I think there are a few differences, although I see what you are saying here:
Letting someone stay in your home for a year is a huge thing. Done without any expectation of repayment, it is a huge sacrifice and a huge gesture. It’s not like an ice cream cone or borrowing a car.
If someone said, “You owe me $1,500 for my lending you my car,” then that would be much more of a jerk-ish attitude than Patrick, who didn’t go to Jonathan and demand $30,000 in rent.
If Patrick demanded $30,000 in rent, then Jonathan should just give him that - $30,000. But since Patrick didn’t, I think a much more generous gesture is appropriate and Jonathan should give him some millions of dollars.
Given that the OP stated the running of the household was hardly impacted, and Jonathan offered to pay rent but was refused, I think $30k seems pretty good, especially because doesn’t seem like Jonathan is all “I’m off to Switzerland for the rest of my life, nice knowing ya!”
Jonathan gets a chance at a very good life, Beverly gets to see her friend do well, and Patrick gets his mancave a year late, but completely paid for, with some extra (what’s the going rate for a mancave, anyway?)