I had a pile of mail and cards, some opened, some not, that I finally went through last night. There was one piece of mail from Citibank and their "Thank You" program. I know I had signed up for that via my Citibank accounts, thinking why not? You get a point for every dollar or something, but I never paid much attention to it.
So I open this letter, thinking it's going to be about some aspect of the program and since the program has been in existence for a few years I'm thinking that maybe I have enough points to do something interesting.
Inside is a letter with a $50 gift card to Bloomingdale's spot glued to the letter. Wow. I instantly start thinking what I would buy at Bloomingdales. Then I read the letter that starts, "Here is the gift card you ordered..."
Hmmmmm. Uh, no.
It is only then that I notice that the letter is not mine -- it's addressed to someone else in the building.
OK, the thought did flit through my mind to keep it. Only for a second or two.
Then I was faced with the dilemma of do I fess up to having opened the letter. I had opened it roughly so there was no chance of resealing.
What I'm going to do is put the original opened envelope in a bigger envelope with a note of explanation. I will sign my name, thinking it wasn't my fault that the post office delivered it to the wrong mail box.
You're having the typical good-girl reaction: you fear that others will think you are guilty, when you are not. I thought that only happened to those of us who were survivors of Catholic school!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you should overthink this -- just put the envelope under their door. They will be happy to get it whatever state it is in.
(By the way, you should go check your balance - the thank you pts really do add up - I usually get the gift card to Amazon dot com where it seems there's always something on my wish list...)
I turned out not to be such a goody-goody after all. I wrote on the original envelope that it had been delivered and opened by mistake, did not sign my name, and resealed the envelope with a thick piece of clear packing tape (only because that was close at hand.) Stuck it out on a table by the mailboxes.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, though, and I did have some guilt feelings since that envelope had been in my possession unopened for more than a week, which is unusual for me. Of course (and here comes the too much thinking), I started thinking maybe the person wanted to give this Bloomingdale's card as a Christmas gift, blah blah blah. Or use it for Christmas shopping. Repeat blah blah blah in my head. And here it sat in my apartment. Bad girl.