Shorty said:
You took money from a relative for picking him up? Is that normal practice in America?
Yes.
There are two things in life you can only ask a relative or best friend to help with - rides to/from the airport and moving.
Rides to the airport cost gas + a small convenience fee, rounded up to the nearest multiple of $10, whichever is less. If the trip is over 90 minutes long, you pay for a meal along the way. By default, airport chauffeurs on the departing trip are the designated house watchers, dog sitters, etc. It is the duty of the airport chauffeur to inquire about such matters before agreeing to work the departure shift. Otherwise, said duties can fall onto him.
For moving, all expenses are your own (truck rentals, supplies, etc.).
Payment is to be in the form of food and drink (typically pizza and beer).
If it takes you three days to move all your shit, your friend gets paid for each day that he helped you.
If you used a friend's vehicle (say he has a truck, and you don't), you pay gas money plus a few bucks on top for the "I'm only using you for your truck" guilt.
Your friend also gets free dibs on any excess furniture. Don't need that lamp? Your friend gets dibs on it before you can put it on Craig's List.
When moving, one must be careful to never cross the friends. It may seem like a good idea to have a couple friends help you on the same day so stuff can get done faster, but if those two friends aren't friends with each other directly, you're crossing the friends!
A few hours of moving a mutual friends crap with some other guy you don't really know has the potential to result in more frustration than pizza and beer can solve. It also poisons any possibility of the two friends to ever becoming direct friends.
The friend (in moving and airport rides) who helps must politely decline all payment offers at least once. Declining again after the helpee insists, or returning said payments after you found it slipped into your pocket, left on the passenger seat of your car, etc. is bad form.
