Well, going against common opinion here, but yeah, you kinda were a jerk, 7 up. You know you have a big backpack, and you know it knocks things off and hits people, yet you still decide to walk around with it in a position to hit other people’s stuff. It’s your big backpack; you’re responsible for looking after where it goes and how much damage it does.
Speaking of which, I was on the bus back in my student days, and this guy gets on with his backpack still on his shoulder, and he goes down the aisle to his seat, hitting every seated person on the head with his bag as he goes. He didn’t even notice.
What kind of keychain is fragile? I thought the whole point of them was to be sturdy.
I also feel I must point out to 7: if you’re going to be close to people, take off your backpack and carry it in your hand. Please. Simply because it’s so easy to whack people/things with it without noticing.
Well, according to the story, the unwillingness of our hot and temperamental lesbian victim of keychain abuse to provide contact information came after it was apparent that 7 was just another penniless student.
Not at fault (except for the backpack thing, which you acknowledged here and there). At this point, you’ve done the gracious thing and it was thrown back in your face; get down to business.
If she wants you to pay for it, she needs to:
Give you the remnants of the old keychain (you ARE paying for it, after all), and
Put you in touch with the friend who purchased it.
The friend needs to let you know exactly where it was purchased, and where you can conveniently purchase a replacement.
If she cannot do any of these things, then your obligation ends at replacing the functional value of the keychain. Purchase a functional keychain for her and wash your hands of the experience. Don’t give it to her unless she signs something agreeing to accept it as a restitution for the broken one.
In other words, if she’s going to treat you like shit, treat her like an attorney.