Our society, in general, has become much more transactional, or at least more overtly so. All relationships have transactional elements. In good relationships there is reciprocity in these transactions. In great relationships each partner wants to give more than receive, and there is an abundance of both. In most relationships each partner sees the other as having something they need or want. Even the sappy “You complete me” statement is about what one partner needs from the other. Most relationships do not survive their transactional nature. At some point one or both partners will feel shortchanged.