I'm on phone, so please pardon if there are any formatting errors. Also, English isn't my first langauge, so there might be grammatical errors as well.

Story contains me (24, enby), entitled person(22, I think, female), mentions of her mother, and my best friend.

I matched with EP on tinder when lockdown initially started, we got to talking and she initially seemed very nice. I wasn't planning on going out anytime soon at that time, and I never have met her till date. The conversation went smoothly initially. She dances as a hobby, and has a social media channel. I saw her posting a status that she was looking for an artist to make her a brand logo for her channel, and my best friend is a wonderful digital artist and I asked her if she would like to commission my friend. She says she doesn't have the money to pay, and asked if my friend would be willing to make her one for free.

Absolutely not. I am sick and tired of people taking advantage of artists. I tell her it's not fair on anyone to expect services for free, and she argues that she is a beginner and doesn't have the money for it. I tell her she can surely save up money and then get to it (I see her posting statuses of buying expensive stuff, ordering takeout regularly, etc.) and she says she can't wait, and it's not like she's trying to use the logo for any malicious intent, just her channel. I tell her artists have bills to pay, they can't just go on giving out free stuff. She says, and I quote, "Don't I?" I shut up after it because that sounded so stupid to me, I didn't even know what to say.

A couple of days after, she updated another status about how she was shutting down her dance channel because she couldn't find an editor. And I replied to it, asking what happened. In hindsight, my bad. She said she can't edit her videos on her own and it will take her too long to learn and some of her contacts her "supposed to edit her videos for her" but they all ghosted her. I asked if any of these people owed her favours, and without answering, she went on a rant about how nobody is supporting her dreams and how terrible she feels at the lack of empathy in this world, and how it is the right choice for her to shut down the channel. I tell her that I think it is wise for her to take a break, and it's unethical for people to ask others to work for free. She replies saying she thinks it's unethical to "give up" and she will continue. I am once again dumbfounded, and I say a simple "I understand, good luck." To which she replies "I would have appreciated a 'you go girl' better, but never mind." I don't reply. This was queue for me to stop talking to her for the longest time.

In 2021, the second wave got really bad here, and people like me, in their 20s/30s were super active on social media, connecting people with resources when the officials failed to do so and medical prices were inflated and running out. I saw her pull her weight, and I was impressed. I still did not want to talk to her though, she sometimes replied on my statuses but I never felt the need to reply.

In July, she sent me a text asking if I would recharge her phone with a monthly data pack, reasoned she had an exam the next day and her data was running out that night and she really needed it. Now uh, education is something I really value. My grandparents were immigrants, my grandpa was the first person to even attend minimal schooling, my dad grew up in extreme poverty because grandpa was the person with a stable income in a family of 30 people, and dad always told me to value education and career over anything, that is something I live by. If I had a mortal enemy and they needed help with education and if I could help it, I would. I recharge her phone, and she told me that she will return it in August. It was not a lot of money, so I wasn't very bothered if she didn't return it immediately.

August goes by. She doesn't say anything. Sometimes sends a text or two and we briefly chat but no intentions of returning the money. September goes by, I start getting a little worried. I wasn't even sure if I should bring it up, in case she genuinely forgot. Anyway, I text her in late October and she says she has no money and will pay back after 5th of November, she can show me her bank details if I want. I tell her it's cool, I don't wanna see her details, she can return it to me after 5th November. Time goes by, she doesn't talk about it. I text her mid-november, asking if she can return it. She says if I'm fine if she makes a transfer from her dad's phone, I said I'm fine. She calls me up within 5 minutes, asking if I can come and meet her to take the money in cash. I live at the edge of the city, and I live alone, and it's not always possible for me to go out at such short notice and even though the pandemic was "under control", I didn't want to go out unless it was absolutely necessary, and I told her I have plenty of online payment methods, she could choose any to her preference. She said she will let me know soon. She doesn't.

I text her in a week asking for an update. No replies.

I text her yesterday, telling her this has gone on for far too long, and I'm okay if she doesn't give me my money back, I am thankfully privileged enough as of now for that money to not make a huge difference to me, but what bothered me was her empty promises and I was giving too much thought to it, and I didn't want to think about it anymore.

She blows up. Calls me colourful names, tells me how all independent people like me like to assume things (?), and that I don't know what she's going through or how she is struggling, and that she has never made any empty promises. I tell her she's been flaking, and it is really fine, I don't want the money, but I wish in future she could just be truthful before asking for a favour. I understand people have hard times, and would have happily paid for her data without asking for anything in return, I'd have just preferred if she was truthful about it.

She grows very sarcastic and passive aggresive and says she will give me the money back as soon as it's possible for her and then she doesn't care what I do or don't do with it. I've pretty much had it at this point and I tell her of course, it is MY money, of course I get to decide what to do with it and she really shouldn't care about it. She absolutely freaks out at this point and asks me where am I getting my audacity from, and how dare I be so insensitive, and how would I feel if someone said those things to me. I said I try my best to be truthful about my situation to people, and when I mess up, I take accountability. She tells me how can I ask for my money back knowing she's struggling (I don't, her stories her full of blings and how amazing her life is at the moment), and I told her I literally said she doesn't have to return my money. She asks me if I'm pitying her, and I said I'm not, and if she thinks I am she can just return my money. She goes on to asking who the hell I think I am, and why should she listen to me. I told her I literally am nobody, and there's only two things that can be done here, either she returns it or she doesn't and it looks like she has a problem with both, and honestly I'm over it and don't care whatever she does. She stops replying, and then starts uploading very passive aggresive statuses calling me more colourful names, and then I start getting calls from unknown numbers, claiming to be her parents wanting to talk. FFS, we're adults, not children that we go complain to our parents. Plus I wanted things on written record so I told them to text me if they had something to say. They did not ever reach out. I have blocked the numbers since, and have not received any money, but I'm okay.