(no subject)

[tamaranth]

I'm trying to get my unseasonal uncheer out of the way, hence two negative and downbeat posts before lunchtime. One of the fascinating discussions that made the weekend so enjoyable concerned acknowledgement. If someone sends you a gift, a piece of work, an unexpected communication after long silence, do you acknowledge receipt?

I say 'yes, it would be rude not to, quite aside from being unhelpful to the sender, who doesn't know whether their item has arrived'.

Apparently, however, this is very old-fashioned of me. (But my niece did get her birthday present, a pair of gold earrings.)

So:
[Poll #406276]

Comments

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

It is the done thing, but I am slack. Or worse, I think, "Oh, I just wanted to write a quick note about X when I thank her for Y, so I'll do it just as soon as I have a second." Which I don't. I've started putting thank you notes as items on my to-do list and to get in the habit of firing a "thanks" email as soon as I receive links / reports / code / etc.

Things can get out of hand, though - a friend of a friend stayed at my house for a week. She sent me a note and a fun pair of socks as a thank you. I though "Gosh, that's really nice." A week later I received a stern phonecall from the intermediary friend, asking whether I'd received the thankyou socks, and, if so, why I had not expressed thanks for the thankyou socks. Which leads us to the old Lewis Grizzard joke:

Q: Why doesn't the Junior League have orgies?
A: Just think of all the damn thankyou notes.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Depends on the circumstances. Card from someone I last heard from in 1994? Write back expressing surprise if I want to be in touch with them. Present from Aunt who I never see arrives in the post? Write back, say thanks (execpt fail to get round to it and feel mildly guilty). Present from Uncle I never see sent to parent's address and found under the tree? No acknowledgement as parents will have acknowledged, but maybe thanks if especially thrilled with gift. Presents from friends on birthday? Verbal thanks when next seen (or possibly on LJ). Thankyou notes for everyone who gave me a present? Outdated, waste of my time.

And a thousand alternatives between and beyond.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I don't tend to expect proper thank-you letters ... but I've been chasing several people by email just to find out if various things (a parcel / an article / a previous email, with a gift-certificate code) ever arrived, the Post Office being what it allegedly is(n't).

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Any acknowledgement -- email, text, LJ post, verbal, even verbal at several removes -- is better than none. Manner of it does depend very much on the circumstances, and on what's being acknowledged. Would quite like to know that French side of family are still at last known address, as they never respond to my letters ...

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

I'm old-fashioned enough to think that some sort of acknowledgement is appropriate (and by the way, the unexpected parcel has arrived safely, for which many thanks ... it's possibly also miraculous as the parcel post around here has become 'strange') but new-fangled enough to do it by email now.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the right thing to do, but I'm the world's worst correspondent....

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Glad it got there -- that's pretty quick, too! I never quite trust the post any more: they seem to lose so many things.

And on etiquette thing, I certainly regard an email (or even a text message) as suitable acknowledgement. It's mainly just knowing that whatever-it-is has survived transmission.

Snap!

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Though I do try.

[spride.livejournal.com]

It's always the right thing to do, and nowadays, with text and email, there's no excuse for not doing it. Mental laziness is even less acceptable than physical.