Isn't it their turn to pick up the check?

Question: A friend borrows your sweater and spills red wine all over it, ruining it. The sweater was three years old, in good condition and still in style. What should your friend do?

Answer: The answer lies not in figuring out the dollar value of the lost or damaged item but in assessing its value to you. In the case at hand, you lost a perfectly good sweater, so that's what the borrower needs to buy you - a new sweater of comparable quality to the one that was ruined.

It makes no difference that you have already gotten three years of wear out of the sweater or that an insurance company might say that a sweater costing $100 three years ago is worth only $30 today. You lost a good sweater and $30 isn't going to replace it.

If, however, you were about to donate that sweater to Goodwill, you should tell your friend not to worry about replacing it. But even then, your friend should still take you out to a nice lunch.

Test your ethics:
4. Agree or disagree? In most families there is always someone who borrows things and never returns them.