J and I received a gift off of our registry from two couples in New Jersey whom neither of us, nor our parents, know.
First I called Bloomingdales and explained the situation. The woman told me the gift had been ordered on-line so there was probably no mistake and that they had no protocol for tracking down unknown gift givers. She also said I was the only "Alison Block" registered. She told me I was very honest and should probably just "keep it and send a nice 'thank you' note"
However, I was still curious so I turned to Internet White Pages. I found Lois's number and called. It rang but no one picked up. Next, I found P Wallace's and figured I'd give it one more shot before resigning myself to accepting our lovely crystal wine glasses with a clear conscious.
Unfortunately, P picked up the phone.
I explained the situation and told her I was very embarrassed but could not place her or her friends.
"We're from the Beach Club," she said cheerfully.
Silence from my end.
"I'm Julie's mother?"
Silence from my end.
"You're father is Thomas Block, correct?"
"No, he's not," I said.
"Oh no," she said. "I'm so embarrassed."
At this point I was hoping she would appreciate my honestly to such a degree that she would thank me and encourage me to keep the gift and enjoy my life as a newlywed.
Unfortunately, she did not.
Instead she asked me if I could Fed-Ex the items back to her.
I, being the honest schmuck that I am, told her I would. She gave me a fed-ex number to use for the charges.
In the background, her husband chimed in: "Make sure she tears up the number after she uses it," a command which she then repeated to me, as if this was all some sort of elaborate scam to steal their fed-ex shipping number.
"Hey," I said, "I'm the one that went to great lengths to track you down and return these gifts in the first place."
In the end, my father suggested I just write them a check in the amount of the gifts purchased (minus shipping of course) and send it to them instead. This seemed like a simpler solution, and ether gives us the excuse to purchase the rest of the overpriced crystal wine glass stemware, or exchange it for something more practical.
Karma, people, karma.
J was able to find the couple the woman was looking for: in the New York Times Wedding Section. Judging from the article, my guess is that we could have used the wine glasses more than they could!
PS- The follow up to this story is that P ended up sending us a little gift off our registry on purpose as a "thank you" for returning the gift she sent us off our registry by accident. Did you follow that?
What a crazy situation! I'm like you and always try to do the honest thing, even when it's a big hassle. I think it's hilarious that she sent you a small gift in exchange for your returning the other ones, too!
ReplyDeleteThat is too crazy!! Good work on being so honest and working so hard to find the correct people! I can't believe this. HAHAHAHAH :)
ReplyDeleteOmigosh. That's hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThat happened to my brother and sister-in-law as well! Except in the reverse - a guest at their wedding (very politely) asked if they had received his gift. When they said no - he was very confused. It turned out he had sent an extremely generous gift to a couple with very similar names who had been married almost a year. go figure! I would have done exactly the same thing you did tho!
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