Go the extra mile for people and you will receive in kind, though receipt may come from someone else.
In New York, it’s not uncommon for people to give. Givers might be sales or service people looking for more business, but they are also neighbors, friends, and strangers. It because New York City is a giving place that there are forged relationships that won’t go away until we’re dead.
Last month, my refrigerator broke in my Brooklyn co-op. My friend living there met with the appliance repairman who informed us unfortunately that it would take weeks to receive the needed part. Who can live without a refrigerator, especially during the hottest days of summer?
I got on Craigslist and found a small fridge to keep food cold until the part arrives. One would think that being on the opposite coast would be a challenge to coordinate pickup and delivery of a secondhand appliance. Distance was not the challenging part, thanks to Chase QuickPay and PayPal for enabling easy transactions for buying and transporting the fridge, and to the stranger-seller across the country who made no big deal about speaking directly to the pickup-delivery person.
By the end of the day, my friend received the fridge, compensations were made, and logistics worked out. It might be easy to stress over the whole situation, feeling out of control for not being there. But it was easy. New Yorkers work together.
I miss New York.