The very expensive dress.
By Kandase
@Kandae11 (53960)
August 25, 2018 11:19am CST
Have you ever regretted making it public knowledge that you possess a certain skill or ability? .
when living in the city, I was captivated by my neighbor's cute granddaughter - and I would occasionally give her toys and storybooks.
When her birthday came around, I made her a very pretty dress which she loved. Afterwards, I truly regretted not having told them that the dress was store bought. Now that my neighbor realized I could sew, and sew very well - the "work" never stopped coming. And I might add - with no mention of any monetary compensation for my time. That little dress turned out to be very expensive after all.
First, her fifteen-year-old son needed his new school pants shortened and taken in at the sides. The jacket he planned to wear at a wedding needed fixing. Her skirts and dresses needed renovations. She wondered if I could sew a pair of summer shorts for her husband if she provided the material.
Luckily I had planned long before to make a move to the country - where I now reside - and I was spared having to tell her bluntly that I couldn't be her seamstress. It might or it might not have soured our relationship - but I would have had to make a stand.
Do you have a good relationship with your neighbors? And have you performed neighborly tasks for them?
First, her fifteen-year-old son needed his new school pants shortened and taken in at the sides. The jacket he planned to wear at a wedding needed fixing. Her skirts and dresses needed renovations. She wondered if I could sew a pair of summer shorts for her husband if she provided the material.
Luckily I had planned long before to make a move to the country - where I now reside - and I was spared having to tell her bluntly that I couldn't be her seamstress. It might or it might not have soured our relationship - but I would have had to make a stand.
Do you have a good relationship with your neighbors? And have you performed neighborly tasks for them?28 people like this
28 responses
@1hopefulman (45121)
• Canada
25 Aug 18
Yes, when some of friends found out that I did my own income taxes, they asked me to do theirs. Thankfully they only had to be done once a year. They did offer to pay but I refused to take their money as I did not do it as a job but as a favor. 
2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45121)
• Canada
26 Aug 18
@Kandae11 Exactly! What are friends for?
1 person likes this
@AKRao24 (27424)
• India
25 Aug 18
I can understand your feelings and the mental tension you must have had! I am really surprised how people can take one granted and never bother to pay for the skilled and hard work? I feel that you have done a good thing by telling that they can't take advantage of your skill for free! No problem even the relationship has got disturbed but it is the peace of the mind that matters much for you than the relationship! Though I do some help to the people staying on the farm, but then I never let them take the advantage of taking me granted!
2 people like this
@allknowing (130898)
• India
26 Aug 18
I have always been a solace to my neighbours whenever they have been in distress but never did anything such as what you did for your neighbours. That neighbour truly exploited you wholesale 
2 people like this
@allknowing (130898)
• India
26 Aug 18
@Kandae11 Doing something in an emergency is understood but what you did was truly unfair to yourself. Good your family was kept in the dark (lol)
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (462735)
• Switzerland
26 Aug 18
You did a dangerous thing not telling them it was store bought. I only cook cookies and pies for the kids of my neighbors. They do not ask, when I am prepare for us I make some more for them. My neighbors usually offers fruits from their trees.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (208985)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Aug 18
As for the "certain skill" thing, I'm sometimes embarrassed by how good I am at certain things, like music. I worry that some will be jealous of me, or that they'll "like me" only because I make their band better.
At my friend's preschool, I learned that some of the younger teachers were "jeaulous" of my ability to work with children without ever getting angry at them.
2 people like this
@just4him (310883)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
26 Aug 18
It's sad when people take advantage of you. I'm glad you moved to the country and were spared the confrontation of telling her you wouldn't be her seamstress. Not getting any compensation for what you did, wasn't fair to you.
I don't recall doing any neighborly tasks for anyone. I did, however, make a pantsuit for a neighbor, but it was by way of a job. I put out there that I would make clothes for anyone who wanted me to, and only my neighbor took me up on that offer. Since it was a job, she did pay me.
1 person likes this
@anya12adwi (6117)
• India
26 Aug 18
Here, our tenant who has taken up a room for beauty parlours, she has been facing many problems.. As she is very sweet, she is not that stern on having money.. So people take advantage of her being naive.. A lady with her maid had come to her and I was also present.. She did her threading and maid too, but she did not give her money saying that she would come at evening.. I was amazed..
And I have had been many a times in this kind of situation
1 person likes this
@anya12adwi (6117)
• India
26 Aug 18
@Kandae11 I had to take up the humiliation for my friend because she used to give me lift to college.. I had to go with her everywhere.. So, I started demanded a bike for myself and after that I lost touch with her
1 person likes this
@nitirrbb7 (4317)
• India
25 Aug 18
Thank god haven't faced any neighbors like yours
1 person likes this
@Courage7 (19633)
• United States
26 Aug 18
Oh dear that is not nice in my books to expect you to make clothes with no compensation at all and to even expect it at all. That is good you are no longer living nearby.
Oh yes as I did hair for work, I told barely anyone as that is always a trade in demand and they want cheap haircuts lol
I do not know my neighbors very well here, we are just civil to say hello only.
I do not know my neighbors very well here, we are just civil to say hello only.1 person likes this
@Kandae11 (53960)
•
26 Aug 18
Pleasant but distant relations with neighbors might be the best in the long run. Of course some cases are different and for whatever reason might warrant a closer relationship. Can you imagine if I was a nurse? the entire neighborhood might have been stopping by.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
30 Aug 18
Wow!! To expect and ask for these and not compensate with something... It was Best when you moved. I have always been afraid to ask our neighbors for much. They have done things which we did offer things in exchange for, but it was usually always when they volunteered, as I would be too afraid to want to ask them in fear of one day making them mad at us
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (172425)
• United States
25 Aug 18
Umm, not really the guy down the hill is a bit of a nutcase..and the ones next door haven't lived there very long. This development is not terribly friendly over all.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
25 Aug 18
my current neighbours are very nice
1 person likes this
@caopaopao (12395)
• China
26 Aug 18
This is really an interesting thing. Maybe at first if you just told her that you bought the dress from a store, and then you didn't have any trouble later. You are a loving neighbor.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
26 Aug 18
Yes, I have but it is give and take...They are a very helpful lot
1 person likes this
@Prachi_Singh (48)
•
26 Aug 18
I've been in a similar kind of situation when I once offered to take care my neighbor's kids when they needed help and then it started becoming a routine to leave them with me. In such kind of situations, just ask them for some favor that you could use and they will take the hint and stop taking us for granted
1 person likes this
