Would you be happy or annoyed? (Have you internalized the idea of a sunk cost?)
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You see this as a chore, but you agree to do this out of loyalty.
As you pull up to the airport, you receive a text from your friend saying: "never mind, my flight was canceled. i'll take a cab back from the airport tomorrow"
Are you happy about this or annoyed?
Rationally, you should be happy that you just saved 20 miles of driving. The trip to the airport is a sunk cost.
You would have preferred to receive the message before driving to the airport, but once you do drive there, the message should make you happy.
Also, you could have looked up to see if the flight was canceled before you drove to the airport. But you didn't. It's a sunk cost.
But once you are in the airport, not having to pick up the friend definitely beats having to pick up the friend and driving him further.
I guess I could have worded the question better.
If you are already in the airport, would you rather
1. See that text
2. Actually pick up your friend
My d-bag buddies got a good kick to the jewels coming his way though. :)
Quote: sodawater
If you are already in the airport, would you rather
1. See that text
2. Actually pick up your friend
I don't believe I have a preference, here. In either case, an event happened and the event cannot be changed as of the time that we know of the event, so what difference should it make?
Quote: Mission146I don't believe I have a preference, here. In either case, an event happened and the event cannot be changed as of the time that we know of the event, so what difference should it make?
Suppose the moment you arrive at the airport, a genie appears to you and says you have two options
1. See a text from your friend saying he isn't there and you don't have to pick him up
2. Proceed as planned and pick up your friend
Which would you choose?
Quote: sodawater
But once you are in the airport, not having to pick up the friend definitely beats having to pick up the friend and driving him further.
I guess I could have worded the question better.
If you are already in the airport, would you rather
1. See that text
2. Actually pick up your friend
Pick up the friend.
Future considerations outweigh current gains of not driving him/her back. Avoiding being annoyed with a friend is worth 20 miles of gas/car usage, imo.
Quote: sodawaterSuppose the moment you arrive at the airport, a genie appears to you and says you have two options
1. See a text from your friend saying he isn't there and you don't have to pick him up
2. Proceed as planned and pick up your friend
Which would you choose?
I'd ask what the heck happened to the stereotypical 'Three wishes,' thing.
After that, I'd suppose I would pick up the friend now that you phrase the question this way. I wouldn't use as strong of a word as, "Annoyed," but I would prefer doing what it is I sought out to do when I first left my house on principle alone.
Quote: Mission146I'd ask what the heck happened to the stereotypical 'Three wishes,' thing.
After that, I'd suppose I would pick up the friend now that you phrase the question this way. I wouldn't use as strong of a word as, "Annoyed," but I would prefer doing what it is I sought out to do when I first left my house on principle alone.
But aren't your thoughts when you left the house irrevocably in the past? They are the quintessential example of a sunk cost.
Quote: sodawaterBut aren't your thoughts when you left the house irrevocably in the past? They are the quintessential example of a sunk cost.
It doesn't matter, I left my house with the objective of picking this person up from the airport and taking the person home and would prefer to complete the objective, if possible.
Quote: Mission146It doesn't matter, I left my house with the objective of picking this person up from the airport and taking the person home and would prefer to complete the objective, if possible.
Then I would argue that you have not fully internalized the concept of sunk costs.
This is one of those rare instances where my preference is not for the most cost-efficient thing to happen, I'm not very happy when plans I have made to do something fail to come to fruition, regardless of other associated benefits.
Quote: tringlomaneMission is right. The only way you're happy about not driving your friend home after you already arrived at the airport is if you got a PhD in economics and are willing to ignore much more "human" factors. From a pure money standpoint, yes, it's better that the flight got canceled. But if I cared about money that much in the first place, I wouldn't be picking up my friend unless he/she overcompensated me for doing so.
For what it's worth, I have a Bachelor's in Economics, so I guess I should have stayed in school...
Now if there were extenuating circumstances then I would fully understand. Maybe the plane was in a place with no cell phone service or maybe their phone batter was dead.
Quote: GWAEI would be overly annoyed. Not because I wasted my time and money to get to the airport but because I hate stupid people. I would be annoyed that I have a person that I consider my friend who does not care about me enough to let me know ASAP when the flight was cancelled when I was doing them a favor. If you are already there when you get the text then there was obviously plenty of time for this person to communicate it to you.
I agree with this 100%. There is an art to the airport pickup and part of it is informing each other of any delays. Whenever somebody is picking me up or expecting me after I arrive, I always text/phone him/her if the flight is leaving late. I will often text if it leaves on time, just as a courtesy and reminder.
However, in the interests of not holding a grudge of this, I would say "Since I already made the trip to the airport, which you could have prevented had you kept me properly informed, do I still get friendship/favor points for the effort?" If the answer is "yes," then I'll get past the annoyance, but will be sure to cash in those points somehow. If the answer is "no," then that would certainly put a frost on the friendship.
1) Your efforts should be still appreciated by the friend
2) You saved a bit of driving
On the other hand, if you are still the person doing the pickup, I would be a bit annoyed. This is because odds are I have nothing high value to do with this new found time and so there is little value in what have gotten return to me. On the other side of the balance I am now going to need to clear some other time on another day to help this friend. I would be annoyed. Not a lot, but definitely annoyed.
Say you're riding a bus and you trip over someone and fall on the floor. You're not mad, you're embarrassed. Say that someone tripped you. Now, you're at least annoyed. Either way, you're on the floor. If the floor is where you are (sunk cost), why is it surprising that one set of circumstances embarrasses you and the other annoys you (at least)?
This is not to say that what you know can't help you control your emotions. For example, losing a bet is always a little annoying/disappointing. But knowing the "science" of the mathematics and the entertainment value helps you take it in stride. But that doesn't make the disappointment go away completely, and it doesn't mean you're immature/uneducated/whatever because you had that micro-moment of disappointment.
In other words, with all due respect to the OP, I think it's a very bad dichotomy to draw.
Quote: RSIs this seriously being discussed? Sounds like OP is trying to get a flame war started. Just wait.
To me, it sounds like OP was the one who made the late text.
Quote: JoePloppyQuote: RSIs this seriously being discussed? Sounds like OP is trying to get a flame war started. Just wait.
To me, it sounds like OP was the one who made the late text.
Haha. This was a purely hypothetical thought.
Anyway -- Obviously it is hard to separate all the human/relationship factors that come in with this question. I just wanted to dial down to the reality of being in the airport and receiving that text. Assuming there was no malice or stupidity on the part of the the texting friend, a lot of people would still be annoyed they made a trip for no reason. But in reality the flight cancelation saves you time, so you shouldn't be annoyed, at least in my opinion.
I would be happy to not have to fulfill the remainder of the journey.
But let's say instead, I'm being paid cash to pick up someone I don't know at the airport and drive them somewhere 10 miles out of the way from where I would normally go. When I get to the airport, I get a text saying "customer is a no show, keep the cash", I'm delighted to have save the time, gas, and wear and tear on my vehicle.
Quote: sodawaterSuppose the moment you arrive at the airport, a genie appears to you and says you have two options
1. See a text from your friend saying he isn't there and you don't have to pick him up
2. Proceed as planned and pick up your friend
Which would you choose?
Easily I pick the text. Now I can't be mad at the friend and I can thank the genie.
Quote: JoePloppyQuote: RSIs this seriously being discussed? Sounds like OP is trying to get a flame war started. Just wait.
To me, it sounds like OP was the one who made the late text.
HAHA soda, he is totally on to you! Trying to convince your friend to not be mad at you! with questionable logic! don't even try to deny it!
Exactly !Quote: ChampagneFireballI would be annoyed I wasn't going to see my friend. It is a friend that I'm picking up at the airport after all.
But let's say instead, I'm being paid cash to pick up someone I don't know at the airport and drive them somewhere 10 miles out of the way from where I would normally go. When I get to the airport, I get a text saying "customer is a no show, keep the cash", I'm delighted to have save the time, gas, and wear and tear on my vehicle.
If I accepted, it was because the pleasure of spending time with my friend (and giving a service) was to me worth more than the cost. Think of it as paying a fee for the pleasure. Now, I paid part of the fee and am not getting what I bought.
If you think "sunk cost" it is even worst, since you lose something of value greater than 2*A+2*H (A=trip to airport, H= trip from airport to friend's house) but save only 2*H.
I like my friends better than my gas...
