Record Of Special Events: How Much is Your Time Worth?

I thought about it a bit, but I decided to give up free money and put my principles aside on this one.

Most people are swamped when they come back from a long vacation. Overloaded email inbox, delayed projects while you were away, and neglected housework that’s waiting for you at home (what’s that smell??). My situation is no different. As soon as I came back from the cruise, I was greeted by a stack of mail, most of it junk.

The Sucky Accounting System

The rest of it? Bills (even better!). I opened one up, and it proudly states “LATE CHARGE”. Oh oh… I remember now. I disputed a charge last month that the billing department agreed to fix, but since the amount was not reversed until after the bill cycle ended, the system must have thought I short paid $50 and happily dished out interest payments. The cost? $0.75.

The right thing to do is to give them a call, explain the situation and ask them to credit back the $0.75. Chances are good that I will succeed, but should I spend the 30 minutes on the phone to get this fixed? What if they take another couple weeks and I short pay the same amount? Can you pay late charges on a late charge?

The Answer is Obvious

The answer of whether to call should jump right out at you, but not all of us will come up with the same conclusion. $0.75 is rightfully mine, so there’s a good reason enough to make a phone call. Furthermore, not calling promotes bad behavior, because adjustments should be made in a timely manner, not weeks after the fact. But then, how much do you value your time? We do many things that don’t make us any money (like watching TV for example), but at least we chose to do so. If I need to spend 30 minutes to get that $0.75 back, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to me (and the world) if I spend that time building my business, kept $0.75 and donated the rest to a charity? I may not make money as quickly as many wealthy individuals, but I’m pretty sure that I can produce at least a few bucks in the same amount of time. Then there’s the financial cost of actual making the call. What if I end up going over my cell phone minutes becau! se I spend too much time on the chatting away this month? It may sound unlikely, but I went 100 minutes overboard last month trying to fix my website a couple weeks back, which cost no less than $40.

What Would You Do?

I plan to let this one slip by. The money is there for the taking, I know. More accurately, I shouldn’t have to pony up those extra three quarters, but the opportunity cost didn’t seem to justify the effort.

Opportunities presents itself all the time but there’s always a trade off. Almost always, the cost is time but sometimes, it might be something else that you cherish even more.

I’m a big advocate of taking action and seizing the moment, but sometimes… just sometimes, it makes sense to let opportunities past you by.

I know my father would have called them up and let them know how ridiculously the charge was (and he’s absolutely right). Yet, I decided to do nothing. What would you have done? Am I being smart? Or did my actions suggest irresponsibility?

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