What would you do?

I have 3 short stories that await your comments.  I would love to hear from you on how you would have handled these situations, or how you would answer the questions following each true story.

STORY 1

A woman hires a housecleaning service, to help her with her home.  She pays for 3 hour of their time up front with the understanding that she will pay the balance after they are done.  A date is set, and the housekeeping company cancels on her 3 times.  The 4^th time, two house cleaners are sent out to the home, but they arrive 3 and 1/2 hours late.  They begin to clean together and they take an hour and a half to clean a bathroom that no larger than a closet, which should only have taken 15 minutes to clean. 

They move on to the master bathroom, and as one of them were cleaning the floors, the other, accidentally pulled the light fixture out of the wall, scratching the 4' x 9'mirror.  She did manage to catch the light fixture before it crashed on the granite counter tops.  The homeowner has to call an electrician to get instructions on how to disconnect the wires from the fixture.

A half  hour of no cleaning goes by and one of the women gets a call on her cell phone, telling her that her husband is outside the house to pick her up.  She had only worked for 2 of her 3 hours.  The other woman continued to clean for a while, but since they arrived late, it was evening and she said she was too tired to clean anymore.  She promised to be back the next day to finish the rest of the contracted cleaning time, which was 2 and 1/2 more hours, and yet to be paid for by the homeowner.

That next day, no house cleaners came or called the homeowner, to tell her when they would be back.  No one would take her calls at their business office, so she left answering messages.  No one would return any of the calls.  The job was never completed, and the home owner was left to call and pay an electrician to rewire and install the light fixture, and the huge mirror has two permanent large scratches that cannot be removed.  The homeowner still owed the cleaning ladies for ½ hour more of completed work, but could not get in touch with them to pay them.

Question:

1.      Should the home owner feel like she owed this company for the 30 minutes of work that  they were due, considering all the problems that had happened? 

2.      What about the Housecleaning company… what are their obligations to this homeowner ……Replace the mirror?... Pay for the electrician bill to reconnect the light fixture? 

3.      Should the housekeeping company come back and finish the 2 hours and 15 minutes of contracted cleaning time and should they get paid?

STORY 2

You lend out many of your nice household things to your neighbors.  When they are returned, they are not in the same condition that they were in when they left your house.  Sometimes they are returned dirty, scratched and sometimes even broken.  None of your neighbors have taken responsibility for the damage or have offered to replace them.  You make the determination that you will not be lending out your nice things to your neighbors anymore.  One of the same borrowing neighbors call asking to borrow from you again, and you say "no" and explain why.  Later you hear the gossip about you that is going around, that you are selfish, cheap and unneighborly. 

Questions: 

1.      If you were the owner of the broken and damaged things, should you ignore the criticisms and just give in and let anyone borrow whatever they want to appease everyone and have no expectations upon their return? 

2.      What about the neighbors, especially the one who did not notify their lender of the damage or offer to replace it or pay for it? 

3.      What would you do? 

STORY 3

A young woman was getting married and had little funds to pay for the reception. She asked friends and neighbors if she could borrow items from them to decorate and use to serve the food, and many people responded favorably.  Prior to the wedding, these items were gathered, and taken to the reception.  The kitchen help noticed that there were chipped glass and holes in some of the borrowed items making them unusable for the reception.  They told the mother of the bride and set these items aside.

1.      When the mother of the bride was returning these items, she was faced with a dilemma.  She knew that the items were broken prior to getting them out to use at the reception, however the people she borrowed from, had not mentioned the damage and possibly didn’t know about it.  She really could not afford to replace these items, especially considering that they had no responsibility for the condition they were in. 

2.      Should she replace or offer to pay for them, even though she did not break, chip or even use them just to avoid possible problems with their friends.”

3.      How could she talk to the owners of the damaged items, especially after the reception, and let them know that they were not the ones who damaged these items, and legitimately prove it?

4.      If she returned these items and didn’t replace them, knowing she didn’t damage them, and the borrower wasn’t aware of their condition prior to lending them out, will this be a friendship breaker?

5.      Would it just be better to tell them the story, and just go ahead and pay for them to buy new ones, and consider it the price for rental, to avoid feelings of any kind?”

Please add your comments.  Thanks!