VENT
For the record, I sent a very nice and etiquette approved thank you note to my former roommate who came to my wedding and gave me a gift. However, I did it begrudgingly for two reasons:
1) Her gift was not from the registry, but it was all things that were just different brands/sizes of registry items. And there was no gift receipt. So we ended up with three pizza stones (2 of the 1 requested from the registry and a smaller one from her with no receipt) and had to return both of the kind we preferred since we couldn't return hers.
2) She still owes me over $100 from when we lived together. There were 3 of us and we each had a couple utility bills under our name. I made a lovely spreadsheet that would let each person input the bills they'd paid and it would automatically tell us who owed what to who. She never settled up on the final bills and she also never returned the refunded deposits from her utilities.
The third roommate moved abroad and I made two attempts before the wedding to ask what the ETA was for her check. But at this point it just feels weird to ask since she just spent money on a gift for us.
TBH, I would've rather gotten the money back and no gift!
/VENT
Re: Thank you for person who owes me $$$
I'm the fuck out.
And registries are suggestions, not requirements. My friend had a spice rack on her registry. It sucked. It was designed for aesthetics, not function. I bought her a spice rack that was 33% cheaper and a 100 times more awesome. I have since been told multiple times how awesome it is and way better than the one she picked out.
It's a present. Maybe it's because I'm a teacher but about 80% of presents I receive I don't like. And it's not a big deal. Sometimes I even enjoy the challenge of writing a thank you gift for something "untraditional" (bottled wawa frappacino with a sip taken out of it still in the plastic bag).
Hit up Goodwill or rejoice in the fact that you don't have to lift a heavy huge pizza stone for a single piece of pizza (do people do this? or is that like wine where no one actually only consumes just 1 portion?)
I'm the fuck out.
I'm the fuck out.
I wonder if she was at the same one my Mom was at a few months ago. She (the girl) accidentally got doubles of an outfit and threw a fit about it.
"Um.....so I guess I have TWO of these now?! That's just great. It's not like there wasn't anything else to buy from on the registry *giant eyeroll*"
Edit: To clarify that it was the girl throwing a tantrum, not my Mom.
Gift registries are guides for those who prefer to use them. No one is obligated to shop from anyone's registry.
I don't understand the problem with the pizza stones. They are flat objects, like plates, that hardly take any space. You can store one on top of the other. If you couldn't stand to have a spare, you could have kept the favored one and donated or regifted the other one back to your friend when she gets married.
And honestly, it is a little frustrating if you spend lot's of time on a registry and receive those gifts but then have to return them in favor of a gift you don't want simply because you can't return those gifts without receipt or registry record. Of course she didn't need to get us the gift as I know and clearly expressed. It's just frustrating when gifts become work. And my attitude about it was magnified because of her owing me money.
For fucks sake people, can a girl get a vent!
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Oh my god, you poor thing. Receiving gifts must be horrible for you, especially when you spend SO MUCH time painstakingly picking out fun shit you want. Even worse to have to take time out of your busy gift-receiving day to go to a store to return some bullshit gift and take the time to shop for something you actually want. Receiving gifts and shopping? Sounds terrible. I am so sorry you're going through this.