This morning a mom came up to me at school. She said, “I’m sorry I have been unable to volunteer to help for the school musical. We are grateful for everything you do.” Then she handed me a $25 check made out to Sharolyn Borris.
Surprised, I said, “Oh, this is help with the budget for costumes,” or some teacherly thing similar to that. She said, “It’s for you, do with it what you want.”
Although it is not a large sum of money, what I do with it reveals my character. What would you do?
1) Spend it on yourself. She said it was for me.
2) Cash the check and buy something for school.
3) Shred it, as the tax payers and P.T.A. have already paid me.
November 4, 2009
Wednesday at 2:47 pm
Early Christmas present? Would you reject a gift that were not cash? Is it illegal?
November 4, 2009
Wednesday at 5:20 pm
Good point. If it were a gift card, I’d be off to spend it. It feels weird to take dollars directly out of this woman’s bank account.
November 4, 2009
Wednesday at 5:51 pm
Take the money, loudly praise her child at every public gathering for the next month, then sit back and let the Christmas miracles rooooollll on in!
(I would take it – Christmas gift.)
November 4, 2009
Wednesday at 5:51 pm
And also, what she did was very tacky. It should have been a gift card.
November 5, 2009
Thursday at 10:08 am
It was tacky, but you just got a free meal.
Being a musical mercenary keeps you real, IMO.
November 5, 2009
Thursday at 12:04 pm
If she didn’t have time to help, maybe she didn’t have time to get a gift card either. As a crazy-busy Mom, I must admit that I feel GREAT gratitude for my son’s amazing teacher and sometimes GREAT guilt at not being able to volunteer more. When volunteer form #3,857 came home the other day and I skimmed it, I literally thought this: “Hmmm…when do I want to volunteer?…How about Never-o’clock on Neverday in the year 2000 and never.” I DO volunteer at his school, but I can’t volunteer nearly as much as they seem to need. All this to say, take the check and enjoy. It was tacky, for sure. But, she was probably desperate to show her gratitude.