What people offer you is almost never a gift

What people offer you is almost never a gift

Last week, someone asked out loud when the last time was that someone offered you something good without asking for anything in return. The answer, nine times out of ten, was the same: a burden. Not an opportunity, not a bargain: a problem. And there's more to this than meets the eye.

The economy of offers runs on a brutal asymmetry. Whoever has a good opportunity keeps it to themselves or sells it to the highest bidder. Whoever has a problem looks for someone to dump it on. That's why most of the offers we receive are, in reality, transfers of work, guilt or paperwork. An improvised survey among ordinary people yields a resounding result: people don't come to give you anything, they come to get you to deal with their stuff.

The exceptions that prove the rule

There are exceptions, of course. A couple of jars of homemade honey. A selfless favor. But they're so rare that whoever experiences them remembers them with suspicious precision. And then there's the other side: sometimes you're offered something that seems good but has a catch. Offers of dubious origin, prices too good to be true, and in the end you're left with a bigger problem. Some people even turn to Saint Michael the Archangel for protection from other people's burdens, the last resort of those who no longer know how to say no.

So the next time someone promises you something good, count the burdens they've left you with before. And if you really have a bargain on your hands, don't tell anyone: you'll end up turning it into a burden. That said, when was the last time you received a good offer? If you have to think about it too long, you already have your answer.