Should you lend money to a colleague?

Someone once told me that lending money to a colleague is like putting money in the stock market. You never know if you'll get your money back.

I must admit I'm pretty biased when it comes to this. I know few things are more irritating than seeing someone at work everyday who has all but forgotten the debt he owes you. I know its unfair to suggest that everyone will break a promise to pay back a loan because many people do value trust and they do pay back. They are not the focus here.

My focus is on the few who would habitually borrow a 10 or 20 from you every now and then because they 'don't have small change' or 'didn't have time to go to the ATM'. The fact that these people can't even manage their own wallets should ring an alarm bell about the state of their short term memory. It shouldn't surprise you when you ask them for your $20 back a few days later that they would raise their eyebrows and mumble incoherences like "Did I...?"

Ok so maybe they've been borrowing from so many people that they lost track. Naturally, since you never asked them to sign a 'Buku 555' (that iconic Malaysian IOU notebook), you have no evidence they took your money. Soundbite: toilet flush. But then again, you'd think that knowing their shortcomings, these people would be responsible enough to carry their own 'Buku 555' right? Fat hopes. If they can't remember what's in their wallets, what makes you think they'd remember where they kept their 'Buku 555'?

But the real scumbags to me are the ones that actually blame you for "mistaking them for someone else" when you come to collect. At least the first type is decent enough to admit they weren't sure. And finally how about the rich forgetful brat who won't hesitate to berate you as a calculative cheapskate for demanding back your hard-earned moolah.

Like most things in life, when it comes to lending money to friends, relatives and colleagues, I have no hard and fast rule, only principles. I believe many compulsive 'micro-borrowers' don't actually mean to forget their deeds so I'm willing to go with the possibility that they may genuinely be suffering from a condition, you know, some hereditary thing that messes up their short term memory. Life is fair and they will pay for it in some other ways. I only find it hard to accept people who feign short term memory just to leech off you. These people basically have no qualms about selling trust for a few dollars.

Either way, my principle is that if you have to do it, only dish out the amount you're willing to lose. And by the way, that is what I always tell myself when I put money in the stock market.