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Comment by Zenbit_UX | Hacker News Reader

You got weird friends, no one's ever had to ask or bribe me, I would just offer to help.

In turn I'd also be uncomfortable asking others to do manual labor for me, if they didn't offer when I said I was moving I wouldn't ask. Buying them supper after would be a given, no bribe required.

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“I’ll buy you pizza for helping me move” is an extremely common social interaction, to the point of being a trope. It’s not a bribe, it’s an acknowledgement that helping somebody move is a huge amount of work and some token of appreciation is wise.

GP doesn’t have weird friends.

And when I was TA grading exams, the professor would buy us all pizza as well. It was technically unnecessary as grading was part of why were being paid as TAs, but it was a nice touch and put us all in a better mood and with a favorable view of the professor.

Sitting down and having a meal is breaking bread with friends. Thats always more than a simple financial transaction of $20 or so.

There was an article that time is our most important resource... Having a meal with someone is giving your most important resource to them, and them to you.

> Buying them supper after would be a given, no bribe required.

I think this is actually kind of the point. By offering to provide pizza, you're casually confirming that you're still operating in the paradigm where friends help each other out without looking too closely at the balance sheet, as opposed to offering nothing (awkward) or paying them (turning it into a transaction).

I think you've badly missed the point.

If you take issue with an analogy, try one that fits your experiences better.

You offer to help, and then your friend says: "awesome, afterwards I'll buy you pizza and beer" vs "awesome, afterwards I'll pay you $21.58".

The order of offering vs asking for help wasn't at issue in the analogy.

Weird friends are great. Everyone secretly appreciates special handling. Little bribes make the world go round. It's quite an art getting someone to help without them eventually feeling a tiny hint of being taken advantage of, and vice versa.

I think the idea is partly "I could use some help with this, but I'll get some food and drinks and we'll try to hang out and have a good time even though the work part sucks"

I've always interpreted it as a "reason" to hang out, or a politeness thing. It also makes it clear that your buddy doesn't plan to shoo you out of their new apartment once you're done the job.

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