越帮越忙？

I've learned a few lessons from this incident where I agreed to help Uncle Ken. Here they are.

1. Never agree to help without thinking.
When I spoke to Zhang Yi over MSN, his advice was this - listen carefully to what God says to your ear. Indeed, taken from that point of view, one must reflect over whether or not one has the capability to help others or not. Recklessly agreeing can only bring upon disaster for yourself.

When I took Uncle Ken's printer, I told him I could sell it, so he thought he could get rid of something that he didn't need that was in his house. But I agreed without thinking. It hasn't been sold all this while, because I haven't had time to put a picture of it on the web. Now, I have to disappoint him by giving him the printer back while I move out of my place into Totem Park.

2. KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS WITH YOURSELF ONLY!
I lost Uncle Ken's receipt, and now I can't find it back. This is really biting my head, for I had agreed to take his receipt to help him with the mail-in rebate, and so I have responsibility over it. But no, I lost it. Hence, I know for one thing, keep important documents to yourself, and give others only copies. I should (1) never had agreed to take his receipt and (2) not lost it, since I already took it.

3. If pressed in a corner for help, say no.
When Uncle Ken brought in his UPC barcode and receipt to mail out, he really put me in a spot. I was at work, dealing with customers, and he was asking me for a personal favor. Additionally, I had other customers in line waiting for my attention. Now, I'm no owner of a Staples store, and neither am I in a position of power, so for me to be dealing with personal things like that is wrong. It is wrong. But rather than take a step back and think clearly about what I'd be getting into, I said "yes" straight away. Ended up, I mailed his stuff 4 days late. Thankfully, it was still within the time bracket allowed for him to get back his rebate, but I'm not risking doing such stuff again.

Then again, when I go to Owl Drugs, if he needs to tend to a customer, I'll let him go, and keep myself entertained on the side. Or else, I'd try to help out - dusted the products a few times too.

4. Say "no" to minute things, for things that you know that they can do.
Mailing out a rebate form? Man, it can't get too inconvenient. I wonder why I even agreed to it. All I had to do was to give him the UPC barcode, and he could do it, but he wanted me to do it. I feel so dumb agreeing to that request which, in the end, I dragged for 4 whole days.

Overall, I'm actually quite mad, not at Uncle Ken, but at myself, for being an idiot in agreeing to minute, small things that he asked me to do, and for agreeing to help him out without considering the consequences for myself. Thinking back, there are many questions to ask oneself:

(a) Are you capable enough to help?
(b) More importantly, are you dedicated enough to help?
(c) Most importantly, do you have the time to help him thoroughly?

If the answer to any of these questions are no, say a prayer, and move on. It's useless to help a person if you can't follow the assistance through. Oh, and don't forget, tell that person nicely that you can't help, so you don't disappoint him in the future.