Jeannie in NJ Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I haven't read the other responses just wanted to let you know what happened to us. When we went to Disney for a week, our neighbor took care of our cats. My dd picked out a very nice gift for our neighbor at Disney and we also got her a gift card from our local food store (which we know she goes to). Well she would not accept it nor the gift that dd had gotten for her. It made us quite sad that she would not accpet either gift especially the one dd got her from Disney. Dh said that maybe that is our neighbor's way of telling us that she does nOT want us to ask her to watch our cats again. Soo accept the gift card, your neighbor wants you to have it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyFL Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 :iagree: $50 is a huge bargain for a week of petsitting. If it were me, I might feel uncomfortable asking you again if I weren't able to give you a thank you gift; I'd feel like I was taking advantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 If you take do it again you can negotiate terms in the beginning but it's really nice to have someone you can trust take care of your pets. I'm sure they would rather pay you than have them boarded. :iagree: You saved them a bundle of $$$ and they are appreciative. I would just say, "That was really sweet of you to give us the gift card, and we really appreciate it, even though it was totally unexpected. We were happy to watch your pets." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily of the Valley Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 It costs us $20/day to board our small dog, or $15-$25/visit (for either a 30 minute or 1 hour visit) to have a professional pet sitter come to our house. I would consider $50 a bargain (and a blessing!) to have someone care for our pets for a week, and I would be offended if the person returned a gift that I gave them thanking them for that service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooblink Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I haven't read the other responses just wanted to let you know what happened to us. When we went to Disney for a week, our neighbor took care of our cats. My dd picked out a very nice gift for our neighbor at Disney and we also got her a gift card from our local food store (which we know she goes to). Well she would not accept it nor the gift that dd had gotten for her. It made us quite sad that she would not accpet either gift especially the one dd got her from Disney. Dh said that maybe that is our neighbor's way of telling us that she does nOT want us to ask her to watch our cats again. Soo accept the gift card, your neighbor wants you to have it . Interesting perspective! I'd accept the gift card. Donate it to someone who needs it if you don't feel right spending it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 If you take do it again you can negotiate terms in the beginning but it's really nice to have someone you can trust take care of your pets. I'm sure they would rather pay you than have them boarded. This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookfiend Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Haven't read all six pages, but it occurs to me that a big gift card moves this away from a reciprocal type of arrangement, less of a favor and more of a service with a fee. Most certainly their hearts were grateful, and they just wanted to express that. However, what happens when you would like to request the return favor? Now a bar has been set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 :iagree: Keep the card. I'm pretty sure it would make them feel uncomfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Lea Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Or maybe a nice potted plant with a little card attached saying how much your family ENJOYED taking care of their pets and how blessed you feel for having such sweet neighbors ('cuz not everyone has that). Then use the rest of the gift card to bless someone else that has blessed your family recently or someone in need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Haven't read all six pages, but it occurs to me that a big gift card moves this away from a reciprocal type of arrangement, less of a favor and more of a service with a fee. Most certainly their hearts were grateful, and they just wanted to express that. However, what happens when you would like to request the return favor? Now a bar has been set. I think this may be part of it. I'm sure that they would be willing to watch our cat, but we have never asked them to because we have an arrangement with a different neighbor to trade house-watching when out of town. Perhaps the gift card is because we haven't asked them for help. Hmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 They wanted to bless you because you blessed them. Don't take away their joy in blessing you by giving it back. :) OP here. I could have quote any of about 50 responses that said essentially this. Thank you all for the feedback. It really has helped my DH and me see that we should keep the gift card. We were very focused on the fact that we were completely willing to do it as a neighborly gesture, and we missed the neighbors' perspective. Thank you all for helping us see what we missed! We will use the gift card and be appreciative of our wonderful neighbors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Oh, I do think it would be fine to let them know you saw the giftcard after the fact and that it is much appreciated, but entirely unnecessary. So basically, set yourself up for being clear about not needing any sort of gift for doing this for them. But no, don't try to give it back to them. OP again. I think we will do something along these lines. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 :iagree: Please don't return it. I'm sure your neighbors were so happy to have someone they trusted take care of their pets and their home. Their pets were able to stay in the home (instead of being boarded) and they were able to save some money, too. We pay over $20 a day just to board one dog, so it is quite expensive to board animals. $50 is a nice gift, but not so much that it should make you uncomfortable, IMO. Write a nice thank you card, mention that the gift was thoughtful but not necessary. If they ask you to take care of things again, you can talk about this beforehand if you really don't want them to give you something. This time, just be gracious and accept the gift. I think it was very nice of them to do that for you. And they are lucky to have such nice neighbors!! We will definitely write a nice thank you card. Thank you! The fact that the gift card was somewhat hidden seems to indicate that they didn't want you to be able to hand it back to them. I'd say that the gracious thing to do would be to keep it. I hadn't thought of this. I bet you're right. You've all convinced us! We'll keep the gift card, write a thank you card, and appreciate the fact that we have good neighbors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 For the assurance your doggie wasn't crying its eyes out at a kennel for $100? Well, this is one of those situations where our own perspectives influence our responses. I have never put my dogs in a kennel. We are either able to take them with us, leave them with family members, or have neighbors come over and take care of them. We don't pay unless we hire the teen neighbor, because our dogs take a total of about 5 minutes twice a day. Our neighbors who almost always feed the dogs are in a perpetual debt to us because we own their house and charge them way under market rate for their rent, so they gladly help out. DD takes care of a different neighbor's dogs once in a while, and they sometimes pay her a bit. When I've had them keep an eye on our chickens, we've just let them keep the eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I would keep the gift card unless you know them really well. It certainly costs a lot more than $50 for a professional pet-sitter or boarding a dog. You saved them a lot of money by caring for their pets. :) We were given g.c. for far too much by my ex and his wife for pet-stting. I know them well enough to have tried to return them, but they refused to take them back because it saved them so much money and gave them peace of mind knowing that the dogs were loved and happy. If they ask again, you can always enthusiastically accept and let them know that the pleasure of walking the dog and helping a neighbor is wonderful, no need for payment. Also, if your ds enjoyed walking the dog, maybe he could ask if it would be ok to walk the dog for them once in a while for his own enjoyment. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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