“Hey, can you sit for me at BestBuy’s on black friday to buy a few things? I’ll pay you a $100 and also give you cash to get me what I want.” I’ve heard this question being asked of me by different people, every year for the past few years now. “Where will you be?” I ask. She responds instantaneously with a “Fry’s!” Great. She has her agents scattered around the state buying cheap stuff and she herself will be part of the show. “No, sorry, I don’t think I can do that. I don’t feel good with my current health situation and if I stay out there and need some emergency help or something, I may be screwed.” I tell her that, noticing that her face is slowly changing to show a look of disappointment even before I finish the sentence.

“Come on“, she says. “I’ll give you $200 and you only have to stay for 14-16 hours.” There is a growing tradition among people who have no life and people who want good deals on electronics to stay up all night outside their favorite retailer on Thanksgiving in order to get the best deals of the year the next morning. These deals usually last only a few hours, as everyone waiting in line usually buys all the items as soon as the stores open early in the morning. “It’s not about the money. My health is not perfect and I cannot stay up all night out like that, specially when I don’t have a car.” This was not what she wanted to hear, and she was determined to persuade me.

“You want $300?” I didn’t want the money. I simply could not do what she wanted me to do. “It’s not about the money. This is about my health. I cannot spend a whole night like that as it will surely destroy me. I can spend that time at a movie theatre and other places. But staying in one place and not doing anything that I want to is torture. On top of that, my health does not permit me to gallop around and do anything I want for such a long time unless I know I can take care of myself. At this point, I cannot take care of myself in that situation stranded in a psycho city with no access to a car in case I need to get somewhere.” When I had finished this sentence, I realized that I was traveling to San Francisco for my operation anyhow on Thursday. What a relief it was! I felt retarded forgetting that important detail in the first place.

“Oh crap! I just remembered, I’m going to San Francisco on Thanksgiving!” She looked at me as if I had come up with an excuse. “Oh come on! I’m serious“, she said. “I’m serious too. I’m leaving for the bay area on thanksgiving as I have an operation later on.” She didn’t believe me, and continued to say “There are no hospitals doing operations on thanksgiving.”

I almost giggled at that sentence and told her “First of all, hospitals do stuff on any day, without thinking about holidays. Second, what makes you think I’ll have an operation the same day I fly there? It’s not like I have to fly down there to get to my operation a few minutes before its scheduled time? I’m going there earlier to be ready for it.” She looked a bit sad, as if she was starting to believe me. “Can I give you a ride to the airport?” She asked me, hoping that she would catch me trying to avoid that. “Wow, that’s nice of you! Perfect. Thursday, thanksgiving, how does picking me up at noon sound?” She almost had a heart attack, judging from her face.

That’s what happens when you are more into a business relationship than a normal friendship. You get bitten by people who have played your game before and are masters at it.