“Got a pet rock for a gift?”
You don’t have to be rich, fancy or famous to have social graces. Social graces come in different packages just as do gifts. And speaking of gifts…
You’ve just been given a gift. (Pet rock?) The person who gave you that gift has long gone and the item sits somewhere among your belongings. You may like what was given. You may already have 5 of them. It may not appeal to you at all. In the end though, that gift is tied to a feeling and an act of giving.
So, What is your responsibility to the giver? Someone, for some reason gave that item to you. The gift may be expensive or it may have little monitory value but great sentimental importance. It may have been well-thought out. It may have been on a whim. The gift may mean absolutely nothing to you. It may be a regift but it came from a living, breathing person and that is what matters.
What is your best response to this gift? Well, the absolute worst response is to do absolutely nothing. No comment. No thank you. No acknowledgement. And NO, you cannot depend on anyone for the action but yourself. Your mother, friend, wife, husband, cousin, aunt, uncle or dog cannot be the one to respond for you. The gift was not given to anyone but YOU and only you can do “something” to connect the feeling of receiving that gift and acknowledging that you received it. And if it was a gift to you and your husband or you and your wife or you and your dog… both parties should respond in some way.
The most important part of a thank you is to acknowledge that the gift was received and appreciated. Appreciated not for actually what it was but because someone, for some reason, thought of you and wrote your name on a gift.
The very best ways to respond to the gift would be to:
1. Write a handwritten note on nice paper within 48 hours to the person.
2. Personally deliver a handwritten note to the giver.
3. Call the person on the phone and thank the person for the gift. Be specific and appreciative.
4. Email the giver a thoughtful thank you note.
5. Text the person a thoughtful thank you note.
6. Verbally tell the person thank you and acknowledge that the gift was received.
7. To do NOTHING would be simply awful!
To do nothing would be extremely self- ish. I know selfish is one word but the word SELF needed to stand out! In the very least, a text or verbal encounter would at least acknowledge and could touch a kind bone for both the giver and receiver.
