Thanks is usually enough, especially if you are doing a favor for someone you care about. If my best friend, sister, or other family member asked for anything—whether it’s a bite of my sandwich, a twenty, or a kidney—I would gladly hand it over in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t complain, and a mere “Thanks!” would more than suffice for me.

But you know what I’m talking about when I bring up those people who ask you for favors above and beyond what most people might do, and often for things people would charge for doing. They’re usually acquaintances, people you don’t see very often (if at all), or estranged family members who only pop up when they want something. As a freelance writer, for me, it’s usually people hoping to get rich quick by working from home who want to “pick my brain” about what I do—sometimes often—for free, and carelessly.

I don’t mind helping someone out once. It’s when he or she loses the links I sent, or forgets the websites I texted, or says something like, “Remember how you posted blah blah two months ago? Can you send me that again?” No, I can’t. It was a lot of information to look up. You look it up yourself. If it was in our message thread or group message listing, you can search for it. If it was on my Facebook page, you can search for it, too. I’m not going to do it—anymore.

That’s right. I’ve done this, over and over again, for people whom I’d like to help because I think everyone should have the chance to do what they love, like I do, or to work from home to help create more family time. The problem is, many of them don’t want to do the work, set up a website or samples, or even follow the easy guides I create—whether it’s about homeschooling or blogging or whatever. No, instead, they all want individual attention and advice, and once I write it up (stupidly, again and again), there’s not even a “thanks” in reply.

Seriously? My best friend—always in my corner—says I need to start charging for such advice, since I had to dig around for it myself. But it seems I’ve always done this; whether it’s resume help, aiding with college admissions or scholarships, or even with tutoring, I have given hundreds if not thousands of hours of free service to friends and family as well as acquaintances or colleagues. I don’t really mind it, if I could just get a little thanks in return.