4 ms·

I disagree. The older I get the more I treasure the rare individuals I can trust. Going into business with someone like you would mean I have an extra job, watc

by gmarx 11y ago

I disagree. The older I get the more I treasure the rare individuals I can trust. Going into business with someone like you would mean I have an extra job, watching you. Life is too short. I recommend against doing business with such individuals if one can avoid it (often a luxury, I admit)

unics 11y ago
I agree with you. If there ever was a man that epitomizes trustworthy and built a huge business because of his reputation there was RG LeTourneau. Early in his career he went far past expectations and cost him dearly to honor his word in fulfilling a contract. His biography is remarkable if you ever have a chance to read it.
- JamisonM 11y ago
  I actually own a LeTourneau land-moving scraper! My main comment was motivated in part by the fact that trustworthiness is a two-way street, when one agent attaches a lot of value to honouring an obligation and the other does not then the first party is, for lack of a better term, a sucker. That is what a lot people encounter when they take on debt. On the lender's side they are simply a number attached to a contract and if an advantage can be had they will take it, if the debtor sees the agreement and something more than what is there on paper they are signing themselves up for something that the counter-party is not, the relationship is unequal and in some way unfair (I guess, it is complicated, no doubt).
- gmarx 11y ago
  I'll look him up
JamisonM 11y ago
I think that this comment addresses that pretty well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9679557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9679557 If you are doing a business deal where you are confident the person you struck the deal with is in control of going forward then I think that the obligations and the relationship is very different. If the local bank lends you the money and you have a long-running relationship with the person you signed the papers with there is more of your personal bond attached to it. If you find out a week later that the loan has been sold off to another institution you are receiving the message that the relationship you thought you had with the original lender (and that person you met in that office) is quite different from the one you thought you were going to have. (They have, in your words, suddenly given you an extra job!)
- gmarx 11y ago
  yep

by gmarx 11y ago

unics 11y ago

I agree with you. If there ever was a man that epitomizes trustworthy and built a huge business because of his reputation there was RG LeTourneau. Early in his career he went far past expectations and cost him dearly to honor his word in fulfilling a contract. His biography is remarkable if you ever have a chance to read it.

JamisonM 11y ago
I actually own a LeTourneau land-moving scraper! My main comment was motivated in part by the fact that trustworthiness is a two-way street, when one agent attaches a lot of value to honouring an obligation and the other does not then the first party is, for lack of a better term, a sucker. That is what a lot people encounter when they take on debt. On the lender's side they are simply a number attached to a contract and if an advantage can be had they will take it, if the debtor sees the agreement and something more than what is there on paper they are signing themselves up for something that the counter-party is not, the relationship is unequal and in some way unfair (I guess, it is complicated, no doubt).
gmarx 11y ago
I'll look him up

JamisonM 11y ago

I think that this comment addresses that pretty well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9679557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9679557 If you are doing a business deal where you are confident the person you struck the deal with is in control of going forward then I think that the obligations and the relationship is very different. If the local bank lends you the money and you have a long-running relationship with the person you signed the papers with there is more of your personal bond attached to it. If you find out a week later that the loan has been sold off to another institution you are receiving the message that the relationship you thought you had with the original lender (and that person you met in that office) is quite different from the one you thought you were going to have. (They have, in your words, suddenly given you an extra job!)

gmarx 11y ago
yep