@joinmentalica: When a favour was actually a deposit #scorekeeping #manipulationtactics #emotionalmanipulation "I don't keep score." Said, always, by the only person counting. They don't give you things. They lend them. And the tell isn't the giving — it's the timing of the bill. It never arrives when they need something. It arrives the moment you say no. Suddenly you're getting a three-year history lesson: the lift to the airport, the money in 2023, the week they took off work. None of that was for you. It was a deposit against your next refusal. So settle it early, out loud, while it's small. Ask the question they don't want asked: "Tell me exactly what you want back." Asked out loud, a debt stops being leverage and becomes a simple number — and a number can be paid and closed. Every kindness was an opening balance.