My friend Jamey wrote an article about the story that is making its way around the intertubes.  The general complaint is that people are paying off bills of other people who over extended themselves to corporations who are getting larger and larger.  In our opinion, this isn’t the best application of philanthropy.

I wanted to write about something I do on occasion to make someone else’s day.  This doesn’t make a huge difference in the world, but it is the pay-it-forward approach.

I take a moderate number of business trips each year.  While I am traveling, my entire existence is paid for.  From the moment I step out the door, my airfare, car rental, hotel, meals, and expenses are paid for by the company.  Sure I’m on-the-clock for the company, but on a normal day many of these expenses would be my out-of-pocket responsibility.

As an example, I recently traveled to the east coast.  I arranged to visit a local dojo to train. In these situations, one would generally pay a small “mat fee”.  I had a fantastic time, and they asked me to not pay any mat fee this time.  For this discussion, let’s say the mat fee is $20.

When I decided to go, I had already committed $20 in my mind.  The experience was worth $20 to me.  When I walked out of the dojo with that $20 in my pocket, I had $20 I didn’t need - right?

That evening, I went to dinner.  I sat at the bar, and had an interesting discussion with some guys from the local army base.  Again, this meal was paid for by the company, so my steak dinner was, to me, free.  This puts me into a strange moral dilemma with lots of variables in play.  These guys had the same meal I had, but they paid with their own money.  There’s a very good chance I earn more money than they do, and my meal was paid for by a faceless company.

I was going to steer this entry down the debate of entitlement and sensible spending, but I’m not interested in that discussion. The point is, this is a very odd place to be in. It’s almost a reverse entitlement. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m not better than anyone else.

I’m also not interested in flaunting what I did to attempt to right this imbalance. All I’ll say is that when I’m in these sorts of situations, I try to do something that is unexpected. I’m not changing the world, but the pay-it-forward effect is in play. Maybe it makes a difference, maybe someone just smiled or gave a sign of relief. I don’t know, but it’s worth a try.