What would you do in this situation?

Question

Okay. I'm kind of freaking out here and need some unbiased advice. Please read:
My best friend moved to England last year. We would talk about once a month, and I was concerned about her friends, although they didn't say anything. She fell into what I would call the punk rock crowd, and all her friends have purple and red dyed hair and have some sort of psychological issue (bipolar disorder, depression, drug abuse, you name it). But I came to visit her over the summer and slept over at her house. While I was there, two of her friends came over. One of them, Jakob, is a Russian orphan adopted by a British family. He brought his computer and showed me some stupid youtube videos. I didn't say anything, since I'm a pretty quiet person and her friends intimidated me. Then my friend and all her friends started talking, and I got up to go to the bathroom. When I jumped off her bed, I landed on a computer. I quickly stepped off of it before I caused any damage and thought nothing of it, since no one else noticed. When it was time for Jakob to leave, he said that someone had broken his computer. Everyone said it wasn't them, and I, not wanting to make any enemies, stayed quiet. When Jakob and the other guy had left, I told my friend it was me, and even though I hadn't done it on purpose, I felt really guilty. She said it was fine and didn't matter.
But now, two months later, I got a facebook email from Jakob saying he found out it was me, that he "knows you can't break a computer from the outside without really trying" (saying I did it on purpose), and that I owe him $300 to repair the screen. He also called me a "self-centered, malicious liar", even though I haven't responded to him and barely said anything during the time I was with him.
My parents think I should just give my friend the money to give to him and get on with it, but I feel that giving him the money would be admitting that I did it on purpose, when I know I didn't. But I don't want to ignore him and let him convince my friend of my ill will, since she's moving back soon.
I don't know. What do you think I should do?

? · Accepted Answer

Just give him the money.. he's obviously going to be immature about it so be the bigger person and get on with life.. if the screen is that broken how did he go on facebook... and why would he be worried about it months later, shouldnt he have gotten it fixed by now? i say this is all bologna on his part and u did not do it on purpose.. he doesnt know  so u have nothing to prove to him.. its sad that he's choosing to act like this. but u gotta avoid the conflict and just pay the rotten kid..

Anonymous · Answer

get a second opinion from a computer repair shop in order to see if the cost of repair for the damage is really worth $300 so he is not ripping you off.
send the amount of money to him and enclose a detailed letter describing what happened and how you did not mean to make any enemies in the situation and that it is not in your nature to be confrontational

then forget about the situation. you cant change someone's mind so just do the right thing and move on

good luck! hope everything works out :)

? · Answer

Well, you did break his computer - of course he's upset, if he'd stepped on your computer & broke it, wouldn't you be upset ?
Just a thought - is your friend's family insured against this kind of accident ?  It may be worth checking, as some people do insure against accidents to visitors, & this might include their more valuable property such as computers.

Wasn't leaving a treasured computer where it could get trodden on a bit stupid ?

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What would you do in this situation?

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