When I was about 13 we used to have a cleaning lady come in once every two weeks.
I was at a boarding school so rarely was able to play my consoles. Every so often she used to borrow my games for her kids. Her logic was that we were a lot better off than her so it was fine to borrow my games for her kids when I wasn't using them.
In principal, that sounds fine, but I bought the majority of them with my own saved money. My games collection was in good condition because I looked after them meticulously.
However...
She would regularly return the games late and scratched. One time she borrowed Ratchet and Clank 3, and Jak 3. In each box was a demo disk along with the actual game. As it turns out, I had taken my CD wallet of PS2 games with me. So when I came back for Summer vacation she had the gall to come to me and complain that the games she had borrowed without permission, and subsequently scratched, were identical. (She had borrowed the boxes containing only the demo disks).
But it gets worse. I would tell her myself not to borrow my games, and then asked my parents to stop her too. She continued to do it. Asked my parents again, but they didn't really care. After all, I was "only a kid" and I should be fine with "sharing my toys".
The worst was when she bought her family a Wii and started borrowing my new games.
I had come back from school for a long weekend, and picked up Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. I played both a little, but didn't have much time. Half term (a week-long break mid-semester) was coming up soon so I was looking forward to smashing both games as much as possible.
Well, I come back for half term and go to play Mario Galaxy.
It's not there.
Why isn't Galaxy there.
I check for Prime 3. Luckily it's still in the Wii. But the box is gone.
I ask my Dad.
"Oh yeah, she said she was going to borrow some games. She didn't give them back yet?"
I was livid. I had one short week to play 2 amazing games and she had taken the best one. I called her. "Oh yeah, I'll bring it back when I come to clean on Thursday." I was leaving to go back to school on the Sunday after, essentially giving me 3 days with Galaxy.
When she returned it, the game was heavily scratched and the manual ripped. I confronted her. "No, it was like that anyway." I was shaking with anger but decided to just walk away.
***
A few years later we're selling the house, and the cleaner comes in for the last time. She's saying goodbye and is upset because she's worked for us for about 8 years. She's crying because she's saying I've grown up into a nice young man, and she's imploring me to keep studying hard.
I feel no emotion other than relief. No sadness. I never liked her, and she stole from me.
She asks for a hug. I refuse.
***
After we move house, I'm unloading my collection and boot up my DSi (I'd since upgraded to 3DS).
On the DSi camera, I find numerous photos that her son had been taking each time she brought him over to play my videogames when I wasn't there. My DSi wasn't even in view, it was stashed away at the back of my hardware shelf.
I almost snapped it in half out of rage.
