We didn't give her the gift!!! Yesterday my daughter handed me a beautiful thank you note from her music teacher saying "thanks for the restaurant gift card, it'll be soooo nice to take my family to dinner, I Loooove having you in class, etc.. etc." What do I do?! I know I need to tell her we didn't give it to her, so that she can figure out who did (and send them a note!) but I don't know how to go about it, mostly because I'm embarrassed (we didn't get her a gift after all). We gave gifts to my kids' main teachers, but I usually do something for the "specials" teachers during teacher appreciation week. And I really do like this teacher - I'm a substitute in the school and I chat with her periodically. How would you word what I need to say, without saying "Yeah, that was a nice note, but we didn't give you gift!" Help!
Thank you ladies, so much, for taking the time to write during this busy time of year! I love Mamapedia!! It makes me feel better just looking at the responses. I just sent the teacher an email explaining it. Unfortunately she probably won't get it until after New Years (last day of school was yesterday). I don't have any other contact info for her. Oh well. Funny, I did try one thing before turning to you guys. I have a good friend who tends to be the one who collects for gift cards (for the girl scout leaders, the swim coaches, the teachers....) So I called her and asked "Did you give a gift card to the music teacher from the kids? Do I owe you money??" I was hoping it would be as easy as that, and I could just send her some cash! No such luck, obviously. Rachel, I considered doing nothing b/c you're right, thank you notes are not always sent. But I did take into consideration how much this gift card must've been for. So I had to bite the bullet and tell her! No chance the note just got delivered to the wrong kid - it had my daughter's first name, last name, and homeroom teacher on it!! Well, she's been told. Now this poor music teacher is probably going to be scratching her head thinking "who the heck was it from then??" Thanks ladies, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all of you :)
PS - Lynn, I pretty much said what you told me to! :)
I would tell her as embarrassing as it is. Let her know you think she is a great teacher too and thought she was very thoughtful to send such a nice note. These things happen and the best thing to do is fess up and have fun with it. You could joke about taking credit for it.....
I would send her a quick email or note that says "I received the thank you note and it was wonderful. I especially appreciated your comments regarding my daughter being in your class; however, honesty is important and the gift card was not from us. Please know that we appreciate all you do."
Honesty is the best policy and promptness matters, because that will allow the teacher to make her thank you's to the appropriate party in a more timely manner.
If you have a contact number for her, call her. Just tell her very simply: "Susie, (or Mrs Jones, or whatever you call her), Becky (insert your daughter's name) brought home the thank you note you gave her, but the gift did not come from us. I just wanted to let you know that as soon as possible, so that you would be aware that the person who you intended it for, did not get the note."
If you get a machine or voicemail, leave a message.
You can end it with Merry Christmas or whatever. If you actually speak to her (not a recording) then it will probably evolve into a brief chat full of "oopsie"s and chuckles over Christmas chaos and end with a 'enjoy your holidays' all around.
Don't sweat it, just make the call so she can fix it and the right party will receive the acknowledgement.
:)
ETA: Something as nice as a gift card that was evidently of sufficient value to feed her FAMILY for dinner, definitely should be acknowledged, and if she doesn't, I promise the giver will notice. If it was a $5 Starbucks card, meh... no big deal. But enough to take the family out to dinner? You betcha they'll notice no thank you card.
Rachel has a good idea about seeing if your daughter might know who got the gift, and then pass the note along to the right person.
Personally, I would tell the music teacher. Just preface it with "This is embarrassing but... we didn't give you the gift." (There's really no other way to say it!) I would laugh about it. Hopefully she will too. I think she'd be grateful to know. Good luck.
Mistakes happen. I think this mistake should be acknowledged, if you were the one who spent the $$ on a restaurant giftcard for a teacher and then someone else was thanked, you might be a little disappointed. I was a Special's teacher, if I made this mistake I would really want to know so I could properly thank the correct person. Don't worry about not getting the Music teacher a gift, you can't possibly gift everyone your child works with at the school.
YIKES. Does your daughter know which one of her classmates got it? Maybe you could simply pass the note along to who it was really intended for.
Me personally, I'd do nothing. Most people don't expect thank you's anymore (sad, I know), so would the true recipient really know that it's missing? Plus, the teacher would be embarrassed, I think.
I'd chalk it up to holiday insanity and just forget it ;)
Victoria makes a good observation on the apparent amount of the gift card so at that point, I think you have to tuck your tail, put on a smile and know that she "should" understand and appreciate your gesture.
I had a similar situation of 'oops' when I got a text message from someone whose number looked familiar but it come up as a stored name so when I responded back with 'Who is this?' the reminded me of who they were and even made comment that I clearly deleted their contact info (which I did!). I apologized and kept it moving. no sense in pining over it. Good luck K.!
do you have time to wrap up something little like a dishtowel set or something and give that with a big tag with your daughters name on it, That way she'll see that your dd couldn't have been responsible for the resturant card.
I would suggest that may the child that gave the card has the same name as your daughter that might be a place to start if you are just passing on the card.
i'm wondering if the teacher actualy thought you gave the gift or if the thank you just got delivered wrong. Did DD say the teacher told her there was a thankyou note coming?
