So around 9pm this evening, my neighbor knocked at my door and asked to borrow my iron. He explained that his iron had died on him, and he just needed mine. I shot my wife a weird look, and then walked backed to my bedroom, got the iron, and gave it to my neighbor. I should have told him that I needed it back later that same night, but I didn't want to be a jackass so I said nothing at all.

90 agonizing minutes went by and I wondered why he hadn't brought that damn iron back. I wondered if he had decided to just keep the iron just to spite me (I had no valid reason to suspect such an act, I was just getting paranoid). Then I wondered if he thought it was too late to bring the iron back after 10, and his plan was to give it to me the next morning. This approach would have been ok, but I had to iron my own clothes for tomorrow (my dry cleaners does a bang up job, but they always leave the sleeves wrinkled, so I have to go over them with the iron--which is dumb because I end up rolling up my sleeves 30 seconds after I leave the house). Finally I stopped wondering why my iron had been out of my sight, and I got flat out angry. The wife suggested I wait until 11pm to reclaim it, and I agreed with her.

Around 10:31, I marched over to my neighbor's door and knocked not once, not twice, but three times and finally he came to the door with iron in his hand. He explained that he thought it was too late to bring the iron back, and I (un)politely talked over him and explained that it wasn't too late, and I needed to iron my clothes. He thanked me, I walked out, and I started muttering curse words all the way back to my bedroom.

If my iron had broken the way his did, I'd have carried my ass to the Rite Aid across the street and bought another one, I wouldn't have borrowed a neighbor's iron, but that's just because I try to avoid small talk with others at all costs. But if I somehow broke down and HAD to ask someone, I would iron my clothes, and get it back to them within 10-15 minutes..not 90. I think I'm overreacting here a bit..this is like when somebody asks to borrow a cd you don't really play too often, but as soon as they do, you miss every song on that cd, and you get paranoid until it comes back.

Yes I am petty..