Q&A: Friend problem – I lost some stuff of my friend’s that was very important to her.?

Question by FrisbeeGirl: Friend problem – I lost some stuff of my friend’s that was very important to her.?
A bunch of my friends and I have been making a movie as a birthday present for another friend. One friend, who I’ll call Anna, let me borrow her camcorder to shoot the film since I didn’t own a camcorder. We did some filming, and when I went to upload the film to my computer to edit it, there were some incompatibilities with the format that the camera filmed in. I looked in the camera’s manual, and there was an option to change the filming format of the camera. I switched it to a compatible format, but all of the camera’s contents were erased – not only the stuff we filmed, but all of her vacation video, a bunch of still photos from a long time ago, and tons of other stuff that was important to Anna. I realized what I had done and told her about the accident, obviously extremely sorry. I know I shouldn’t have used her camera or changed it when she wasn’t there, I know I shouldn’t have used her stuff without it. When she learnt about it, she took her camera and stormed off in tears, obviously very distraught.
I don’t really know what to do. I apologized to her profusely, and stated as clearly as possible that I shouldn’t have messed with her camera. She wouldn’t have known it would erase everything either if I had asked her first, but nonetheless, I should have asked her. I doubt she will ever let me borrow anything again – she’s the type to hold a grudge, and I’m sincerely concerned that she will stay distant and pissed off for who knows how long. Should I just give her time and space, or what? What can I do to make it up to her? I can’t get the photos and videos back, I’ve already checked that out and read the manual. I hope that she understands it was an accident, but I have the feeling she may make it into something else and alienate me. She is a very good friend of mine, and though we sometimes have our problems, I don’t want this to splinter our friendship. What should I do?

Best answer:

Answer by hockingo
obviously that would be really hard for her to get over, loosing everything that was a good memory!
even though it was an accident, she may have to take alot of time to forgive you!
i think i would find it extremely hard to forgive you if that happened
but im sure, she will realise that it was an accident, yeah she might be angry with you about it still, but she will forgive you! she wouldnt want to lose you as a friend over some pictures, im sure

but remember, actions do come with consequences!

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