Ahhh, Black Friday. It almost sounds like a day of mourning, not the first day of the Christmas season. Even though I just moved here, the retailers and credit card solicitations have found me already. I opened my tiny mailbox and it rained all over the floor. Retail advertisements, credit card offers, and "special" discounts. We have a recycling bin right next to the mailbox. Ninety percent goes right in. The rest of America is the same way, lots of pounds per person a year--most of it to the landfill unopened.
But wait, there was something else there! An envelope! Personally addressed, even. Yay!! Somebody cares! Oh wait, it's a bill... less yay. Odd, as I usually pay everything with cash, my credit card or online. This one wanted a check! What's that? I'm not even sure where my checkbook is any more. How could I have forgotten to pay that bill? It must be wrong! But I checked, it wasn't it. It was an old bill that had just caught up to me. Dagnabit.
Ah, the American way. Just put expenses on your credit card and pay for it later. It seems we are always in debt to someone. Really, checks are almost the same thing although the latter is a bit quicker. Of course, you can bounce a check and get away with a few before you get caught, I think. The credit card companies always seem to find you. I am one of the rare people who don't carry any credit card debt and never have. Never bounced a check either for that matter. Truth be told, I'd rather pay cash. If it's not in my pocket I always ask myself, "Do I really need it?" And if you think about it, cash isn't really all that good either. You can't eat it, live in it, or buy love with it. It's really just paper with pictures of dead presidents on it.
Of course, our world economy would crash if we all threw away our credit cards, checks, and cash. We need them since is impossible to trade real-time goods for services. I can't imagine the doctor who just sent me a bill being too happy with a bushel of corn. Besides, how would they make change? Popcorn perhaps. Maybe I could pay with a bushel of junk mail--I have lots of that.
But our emotional currency is quite different. Emotions are best expressed in real time. Even though it is tempting, you should never promise to pay for the love you get today with some vague minimum payment in the future. It just piles up and even making the interest becomes a challenge. It takes more than promises to make your customer relationship work.
We are all customers when it comes to our emotions. And that isn't defined by a four-page relation¬ship agreement that get when we sign up. It's simple, really: we all want to be loved. To be appreciated for who we are and what we do. We want people to appreciate us in the here and now -- on a cash basis. But we forget that we have to give love to receive love.
So, as the ominous Black Friday looms and your box is full of junk, take time to think about who you already owe. Before you sign up for more debt and emotional junk, make payments to the ones you love. Not because you owe them but because you love or care about them. Take some time to pay it forward--make some extra payments even. Do something unexpected and nice for someone today. Tell them you love them. It won't even cost a dime. Currency well spent.
Promises won't buy love. It takes action and regular payments to keep your credit score high. Emotional cash is king; spend it freely on Black Friday and every day. And in the song "The End," the Beatles say it simply: "The love you get is equal to the love you give."
Now that is the reason for the season. No postage required.