So, how big of a jerkface was I?

The BBQ Pit
1

I know I’m in the wrong for most of this situation, but I’m enraged just a bit right now. See, I have a big backpack. The seating in the lecture halls are badly arranged. There is very little space for me to get through, let alone a massive backpack with a bunch of note books, two or three textbooks, and a laptop. Normally, I take off my backpack if I see someone with a laptop on their desk, because well, obviously, I don’t want to knock it off cause a whole bunch of commotion. But today, I saw that there wasn’t a laptop where I had to squeeze through, so I didn’t bother. What a bad decision that was. There was one girl I had to scoot in front of, and when I did, I knocked over her stuff. When I heard it, I looked back to make sure all was well (ie, it was only paper and pencil case, no calculators or broken things) and apologized for being a klutz. I thought all was indeed well, so I sat down in my chosen seat.

Just as I got up to leave, the girl whose stuff I had knocked over, basically stood in my way and confronted me about knocking her stuff over. Here’s how it went (words are not exact, obviously):

Her: You knocked my pencil case over.
Me: I’m sorry. (and I was, because I hate it when people knock my things over)
Her: You broke my keychain.
Me: I’m sorry? (I repeated myself, because well, she’s just standing there looking at me at this point. And I thought I had heard wrong. Keychain? Maybe I misheard calculator somehow.)
Her: My best friend gave it to me.
Me: Uh huh. (and b now, I’m thinking Do I have to stay for this life story?)
Her (Showing me the broken keychain): The head is broken. The body is broken. My keychain is broken.
Me: Uh huh.
Her (FINALLY getting to the point): You broke my keychain my best friend gave me. It means a lot. Can you pay for it?
Me: (thinking Oh. She wants money. But, of course, I DID break it, so I have to own up to it.) Sure, do you have a telephone number, or ICQ, or MSN, or email or anything like that so I can contact you? (I also was in a hurry to get out of there and to my next class because it’s about a ten minute walk and I hate being late. It means stepping on people’s toes to get to the one available seat)
Her: I want to settle this now.
Me: Erm. I don’t have any cash on me.

And that results in silence for a few seconds and we’re just looking at each other before she finally says “Oh really?” Hmph. As if she didn’t believe me. As if it’s so utterly inconceivable that in this day and age of credit cards, debit cards, and checks that people don’t carry cash with them. Well, there wasn’t much I could do because she refused to give me any contact information, so I brushed past her and hurried to my next class where I did have to step on some toes. I know, I know, I could have left her my contact info, but that “Oh really?” tone and look pissed me off so if I see her in class again, I just may say “Too fucking bad.” I don’t know though. Was I totally wrong to brush past her after that? I know it was all my fault for knocking her stuff over, but am I at all justified in leaving for my next class? Now I’m a lttle antsy to get to a machine to withdraw money to buy some sushi as I planned. What if by some coincidence she sees me with cash? Then, I’ll really be a bitch.

So? The verdict?

On preview: This seems really juvenile, even to my immature self, but it’s bugging me just a tad more than it should.

2

She was hitting on you. And disappointed about your financial situation.

She should have seen you plowing through and sturdied her stuff.
You should find an alternative to bulldozing.

But she was definitely hitting on you–and I’ll bet she’s the hateful/energetic type. :cool:

3

My view?

How were you a jerk at all?

You knocked over her stuff. You appologized. She tried to weasel money out of you over a KEYCHAIN? Exactly what kind of keychain was this-a Faberge Egg?

You were not a jerkface.

4

Fuck her.

You sounded pretty accommodating to me.

5

You weren’t a Jerk at all. She was in the wrong (by a small amount) in having chosen to sit in a place where others have to move past her to sit down (assuming you can all choose to sit wherever you like). Buy a nice replacement key ring for her if you like, and give it to her next time you see her, if you feel you owe her.
Try carrying less stuff if you can it’ll probably be good for your back in the long run.

6

You should have said “fuck off” when she asked you for money. Material bitch.

You did good IMO.

7

And furthermore, if the object really had that much sentimental value, then there would be no price tag on it, right? Something that has sentimental value often has little or no cash value (things like antiques aside).

This woman also sounds to me like she’d sue McDonald’s after spilling hot coffee over her lap because they didn’t tell her that her freshly-brewed cup of joe was hot.

Was the situation juvenalian? Most definitely…but on her part, not yours.

8

Just to fight you ignorance, maybe you should read this.
As to the OP. Won’t you see her in class again? You should have asked to see the damaged key chain. I’m 99% sure she was scaming you though.

9

You were definately not a jerk. You apologized for knocking her crap over and obviously intended no malice. The owner of an accidentally broken item should not demand to be compensated. It’s rude. The breaker should offer to compensate the victim, except it was a kaychain, so it probably did not cross your mind.

10

Okay…is this little misinformation ever going to be put to bed? Here is a page about the actual facts of the case instead of the “Common Wisdom”'s urban legend version.

The situation was only Juvenalian if the class was Classical Literature…

11

Erm. This is where my user name creates problems… See, I am also a girl. And society, sadly, is still not tolerant enough that a girl would feel comfortable about hitting on another girl. :dubious:

Yeah. That’s why I thought I misheard her when she first told me that. By looking at it, it was one of those small dangly ones shaped into some sort of Japanese animation character. From my knowledge, those have been known to cost up to $15. Absurd for a piece of plastic, but that’s my view. Perhaps it’s worth it to her and her best friend to pay (up to) $15 for it.

That’s what I think too. I honestly (still) feel pretty lousy about breaking the keychain that her best friend gave to her. If someone broke anything of sentimental value to me, I’d be crying up a storm, but it’d be pretty damn hard to ask for reimbursement for it. It’d be like putting a price on the sentimental value and just be weird.

I mean, I would have found a way to pay her back for it, because for whatever reason she has, she feels that money can replace the lost of the keychain her best friend gave to her. After all, I did pay the $30 in library fines I racked up. :smack: But she’s made it sort of clear that she thought I was lying when I said I didn’t have cash on me, and just didn’t want to pay her. If that’s the case, then so be it.

12

Yeah, I think you did the best you could in that situation. I’m another person who doesn’t carry cash with me at school most of the time, so I guess I would have had to do the same thing.
But I think she is justified to want some compensation for having her keychain broken. Personally, I think I’d bring some cash to class next time just in case she does decide to bring it up again.
Definitely a very awkward situation. Sorry it happened to you.

13

Just to dispell another urban myth…

I, for one, hit on other girls all the time. I’m quite the flirt. :cool:

Another vote for you’re okay. If it had been me, I’d have blamed myself for putting the keychain in a precarious place, choked down an initial rush of despair, and glued the thing back together when I got home. Course, I’m not worried about your financial situation.

14

You are young, given time and sincere prayer you should be able to get past this.

15

I’m surprised it took so many posts to hit his point.

If it’s sentimental, HOW MUCH is it worth? I’d be curious. Next time you see her, tell her: “I feel REALLY bad about that keychain. Do you know how much your friend paid for it?” One of the following will ensue:

Suggestions:[ul]
[li]She’ll answer some bogus amount like, “$25”. To which you answer, “Your friend told you how much the gift cost her?” When she defends why her friend did, say: “Well I need to get in touch with your friend to find out how she can get her hands on this item and to give her the money to pay for another one.”[/li][li]If it was from some exotic place, tell her that you’re willing to wait until the friend takes another trip, and at that time she can buy another keychain for you which you will reimburse.[/li][li]She’ll say, “I don’t know how much she paid. It was a gift.” To which you respond, “Well can I get in touch with your friend to give her some money to buy you another gift?” To which she’ll give you all kinds of reasons why you can’t. Then say, “That’s too bad. I know for a fact that money can’t replace the sentiments friends share.”[/li][li]She’ll say, “My friend died/moved far away and I don’t know where she got it or how much she paid for it.” To which you answer, “Well then I’ll pay to have your keychain fixed, as it certainly is irreplaceable.” To which she’ll almost CERTAINLY say, “It was broken. I threw it out.” To which you say, “I’ve been thinking of the sentimental value this whole time and you’ve already thrown it out? I’m hurt.” Then go to your seat.[/li][/ul]

BEST CASE SCENARIO: She’s stopped PMSing and says, “It’s ok… No big deal, thanks for the offer though.” Who knows? Maybe you guys will end up sharing lecture notes!

16

You weren’t a jerk. It sounds to me as if someone wanted beer money for the weekend.

Accidents happen. You apologized. It’s a friggin keychain.

You=ok
Keychain girl=nuts.

17

Wait, wait, wait. 7 up, I think you’re leaving out the most important detail. Was she hot?

18

[QUOTE=Matchka]
She was hitting on you.QUOTE]Then wouldn’t she have given her her contact details?

19

Dude, I can’t believe she wanted money for a keychain her FRIEND bought her. It’s not like she was out any money. Being able to carry around something with sentimental value, yes. But, personally, if something meant THAT much to me, and was breakable, I wouldn’t carry it around with me. People drop keychains all the time. And if it broke apart from a 3’ fall, it was shoddy, heh.

Scamming scamming scamming.

20

She was playing hard to get.

county, props for making me giggle.