For the past 15 years, a reader we're calling Annabelle,
has volunteered for a local educational nonprofit. Over the years, she served
in many roles from helping to organize functions to serving as a sounding board
for the organization's leadership. For the past six years, Annabelle served as
a member of the board of trustees, a position she will hold until she steps
down at the end of June.
Prior to her final board meeting, Annabelle received an
unexpected package on her doorstep. As a thank you for her years of service,
the nonprofit's leadership team had sent her a gift engraved with both the
organization's name, a notation of her years of service, and her name.
"I wasn't expecting anything," writes
Annabelle. "But I was touched to be acknowledged."
Upon inspecting the box in which the gift arrived,
however, Annabelle grew a bit perplexed. There was the notation "Box
2/2" written in black marker on the top of the box.
"I hadn't noticed it until I was dismantling the box
for recycling," she writes, "and even then I didn't make too much of
the notation."
But it crossed Annabelle's mind that perhaps the
"2/2" notation indicated that there was supposed to be a second
package. After sending a thank you note to the leadership team, she waited
about a week to see if anything else showed up. It still hadn't.
"I feel kind of awkward mentioning it to them,"
she writes. "The gift was thoughtful and more than I anticipated. I don't
want them to think I expected more."
Annabelle is torn about what to say to the leadership
team or whether to say anything at all.
"But if they had ordered something and it never
arrived, wouldn't they like to know?" she asks. "I know I
would."
Annabelle, who plans to step back from her volunteer
efforts at the nonprofit to devote more time to other pursuits, is right to be
concerned. Typically, such a notation on a package does indicate that two
packages would be arriving as part of the shipment. There's a chance it could
have been delivered to the wrong house or, more unlikely, pilfered from her
porch. Still, Annabelle has no obligation to say anything to the leadership
team beyond the thank you she already expressed.
While she has no obligation, her "I know I would
comment" should be a strong guide toward the right thing to do. Most any
of us would like to know if a package we intended for someone never arrived.
Sometimes a tracking number can be used by the sender to see the goods arrived
safely to their intended designation. But even a tracking number wouldn't
ensure that the package had reached Annabelle if it had been misdelivered or
pilfered.
Annabelle should send a quick note indicating that she
noticed the "2/2" notation on the package and ask if there was
another package that was supposed to arrive. She can repeat her thanks and
comment on how unexpected her gift was, but that she didn't want the leadership
team to think that something arrived when it hadn't. A moment of awkwardness
doesn't do anything to diminish her gratitude particularly when she is trying
to do the right thing.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@comcast.net.
Follow him on Twitter: @jseglin
(c) 2019 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
(c) 2019 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
1 comment:
"Two things" can often be misunderstood. I once asked my attorney if he would answer a couple of questions for me if I paid him $500. He answered, "Certainly, what's the 2nd question?"
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