The Favor Bank
I was talking to some of my friends about the Favor Bank. During my discussion, it dawned on me that not everyone understands what the Favor Bank is and how you go about using it. In short, the Favor Bank is a play on the old adage of what goes around comes around. You scratch my back, I will scratch yours.
I believe that another way of looking at it is a way of creating a bond of friendship with others. You would do a favor for a friend as well as ask a friend for a favor. Through the Favor Bank, you expand your friendship circle with an understood reciprocity.
Through our careers, we may make deposits at some time when we do favors for people and we make withdrawals when we ask for a favor. The Favor Bank works well with people who grasp its rules but starts to fail miserably when people become involved who only have a superficial understanding of how the system works.
An interesting example occurred when a friend of mine built a website for his brother and received a thank you for it.
Traditional Favor Bank Interpretation: As I see it, he made a significant deposit into the Favor Bank and his brother made a corresponding withdrawal from it. At some time in the future, my friend could make a call into the Favor Bank which his brother should be indebted for.
Immediate Pay Back Interpretation: You could also interpret the build out of the website differently. It could be seen as a deposit from my friend into his brother's account. Under this interpretation, my friend could demand some form of immediate payment in the form of gifts from his brother. I see this approach as a simple barter for exchange and has nothing to do with the Favor Bank.
I believe that another way of looking at it is a way of creating a bond of friendship with others. You would do a favor for a friend as well as ask a friend for a favor. Through the Favor Bank, you expand your friendship circle with an understood reciprocity.
Through our careers, we may make deposits at some time when we do favors for people and we make withdrawals when we ask for a favor. The Favor Bank works well with people who grasp its rules but starts to fail miserably when people become involved who only have a superficial understanding of how the system works.
An interesting example occurred when a friend of mine built a website for his brother and received a thank you for it.
Traditional Favor Bank Interpretation: As I see it, he made a significant deposit into the Favor Bank and his brother made a corresponding withdrawal from it. At some time in the future, my friend could make a call into the Favor Bank which his brother should be indebted for.
Immediate Pay Back Interpretation: You could also interpret the build out of the website differently. It could be seen as a deposit from my friend into his brother's account. Under this interpretation, my friend could demand some form of immediate payment in the form of gifts from his brother. I see this approach as a simple barter for exchange and has nothing to do with the Favor Bank.
If you want an immediate like kind of exchange, please do not tarnish the Favor Bank. Rather, just recognize your business transaction as a simple barter exchange.
An interesting question that I will be thinking about tonight is what happens to your Favor Bank credits when you die. Do they die along with you or are they transferable to your family members?
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