Package mailed to friend and they thought it was for them

[Sadie22]

I woudl never have something shipped to someone's home without asking their permission first.

 

[MSSANDRA]

My thoughts are that you need to just say, "You are welcome" and let her enjoy it. I am sure if they are not as comfortable in their lifestyle as you are, they believe that you were just being generous with them.

As for the shipping of the package; in our group of close friends, we do this all the time to prevent our kids and spouses from seeing packages delivered, and we have forgotten a few times to alert someone that it is coming but that person has never assumed the unordered package was for them and just gets it to it's right owner.

 

[marlynnp]

Maybe it's because English is not my native language, but to me the bolded sounds rather strange.
I looked up those machines on Amazon (we don't have them here, but I guess they are similar to Nespresso which is widely used over here), apparently they are between USD 120 and 180, would that be about right? It's not a tiny sum bot not a huge one either, so I would buy another one for FIL and be happy that the woman is thrilled with the present, it was your wife's mistake anyway.

"doesn't come from much" means the family does not have much money.

And the OP's use of it killed what little sympathy I may have had over such a dumb mistake. I mean really, what the hell makes these poor people think we'd give them a Kuerig? Those people are barely Mr. Coffee worthy.

 

[mrsklamc]

"doesn't come from much" means the family does not have much money.

And the OP's use of it killed what little sympathy I may have had over such a dumb mistake. I mean really, what the hell makes these poor people think we'd give them a Kuerig? Those people are barely Mr. Coffee worthy.

Wow. That is not remotely what OP said.

 

[swilshire]

What a terrible misunderstanding. Unfortunately, it will have to be a lesson learned as it would be terribly rude and embarrassing (for both you and the mother who "received" the gift) to explain what happened. She clearly has already used it anyway. Even though it was a big mistake, it sounds like that family doesn't have a lot of extras so maybe you can look at it as an unexpected way to give to others. It sounds like the mother really loves her new Keurig.

I would be heartbroken if that happend to me because I wouldn't be able to replace it with another Keurig but I still wouldn't say anything. I do think it's strange your wife had it shipped there in the first place, but being in a rush can make us do strange things! What a bummer...I hope your budget isn't too shot from this.

I suspect she has purchased a really nice gift for you since she thinks you were so generous. Let her enjoy it and hopefully you'll enjoy the gift she sends to you. If not, maybe you can return it and get some money back to replace the Keurig.

Sheila

 

[RitaE]

Wow. That is not remotely what OP said.

Well then maybe the OP will come back and explain what he meant by that because I was also

Around here such is phrase is kind of an underhanded insult

"Well she didn't quite know which fork to use but we looked the other way because she doesn't come from much....

bless her heart."

 

[mdsoccermom]

The OP saying the kid doesn't come from much was so irrelevant and frankly, a real jerk thing to say.

 

[cheshireqt]

I would be another who would just let her keep it. Honestly, I am sure it has been used quite a bit now and wouldn't be "new" anymore to give as a gift.

Agree. It was an unfortunate mistake to forget to ask her if you could use her address to send a gift for someone else, but what is done is done.
Hope the trip was wonderful and that you can stop by a walmart or costco and get another one for your FIL on your way to their house.

 

[mimmi]

"doesn't come from much" means the family does not have much money.

And the OP's use of it killed what little sympathy I may have had over such a dumb mistake. I mean really, what the hell makes these poor people think we'd give them a Kuerig? Those people are barely Mr. Coffee worthy.

Thanks, I thought it meant something along those lines and to me it sounded kind of mean, but I wasn't entirely sure as sometimes it's hard with second languages to "feel" the meaning.

 

[NYCDiane]

This is a strange situation all around.... I just don't get why it was shipped there to begin with? If you were going to have it shipped it anywhere, why not straight to the intended recipient?!??!

Anyway, I'm also in the "let her keep it" camp. Those things are on huge sales all over the place. Just purchase another one for the original intended recipient.

OP: Can you explain why it wasn't just shipped to the intended recipient and why you wouldn't have asked PERMISSION to have a package shipped to someone else's house to begin with????????

 

[mrsklamc]

Well perhaps it was me that misunderstood OP's intent. To me 'he's a great kid that didn't come from much.' is a compliment- that they overcame a tough beginning. I also interpreted it as relevant in that I thought he was trying to politely say the mother would not be able to just run out and buy another if the mistake became known.

 

[momxx5]

I say "everything happens for a reason".

That might very well be one of the nicest and maybe ONLY gift she will get this year.
I say let her have it, say "you're welcome", and hopefully you can get another one for the original recipient.

A good deed that you will recieve good tidings for.

 

[Alesia]

Well perhaps it was me that misunderstood OP's intent. To me 'he's a great kid that didn't come from much.' is a compliment- that they overcame a tough beginning. I also interpreted it as relevant in that I thought he was trying to politely say the mother would not be able to just run out and buy another if the mistake became known.

I really don't think that's much of a compliment; it implies that poor kids are naturally less good than more well off kids. It's sort of like being surprised that a black kid can use proper grammar.

In any case, I really doubt that the OP really meant anything by it, but to a lot of people the phrase "doesn't come from much" has a slightly insulting undertone. It's probably not the best choice of words to use in the company of strangers.

But as for the topic at hand: Having something shipped to someone else's house without telling them is an incredibly bad idea. You could try to ask for it back, but it's going to be incredibly awkward for everyone and will probably affect the friendship between the boys. I would just let it go and chalk it up to a moderately expensive lesson.

 

[npmommie]

At this point I would let her keep it. Lesson learned.

I would be another who would just let her keep it. Honestly, I am sure it has been used quite a bit now and wouldn't be "new" anymore to give as a gift.

I also would let her keep it. Think of it as your random act of kindness for someone.
I do have to ask though, since you said your wife was in the hospital and that was why she didn't ask about delivering it to that address, why didn't YOU pick up the phone and ask them if a delivery could come there?

Lesson learned. Hoping my FIL has a sense of humor LOL!

why does he need a sense of humor? I would just get him another keurig and he will never know.

"doesn't come from much" means the family does not have much money.

And the OP's use of it killed what little sympathy I may have had over such a dumb mistake. I mean really, what the hell makes these poor people think we'd give them a Kuerig? Those people are barely Mr. Coffee worthy.

I don't think he meant the comment in a bad way.

Well perhaps it was me that misunderstood OP's intent. To me 'he's a great kid that didn't come from much.' is a compliment- that they overcame a tough beginning. I also interpreted it as relevant in that I thought he was trying to politely say the mother would not be able to just run out and buy another if the mistake became known.

I agree, I don't think the comment was an insult. I think he was just putting perspective on a situation.

 

[jessica52877]

Well perhaps it was me that misunderstood OP's intent. To me 'he's a great kid that didn't come from much.' is a compliment- that they overcame a tough beginning. I also interpreted it as relevant in that I thought he was trying to politely say the mother would not be able to just run out and buy another if the mistake became known.

I agree, I don't think it was negative at all. I don't even feel the OP came asking for advice, just sharing a less then budget friendly story. A warning of sorts. Kudos to the OP for handling the situation well.

If I had asked my 17-18 year old son or his friend that we were extremely close with about having a package shipped and they told me it was fine I wouldn't have thought another thing about it.

A nice random act of kindness came out of this!

Merry Christmas!

 

[mrsklamc]

I really don't think that's much of a compliment; it implies that poor kids are naturally less good than more well off kids. It's sort of like being surprised that a black kid can use proper grammar.

Well, as someone who did not come from much, myself, it is harder to be good when you, for example, have to work a full time job all four years of high school, get made fun of for not having or not getting to do what the other kids do, not having the advantages in terms of having parents that know how to 'navigate' life - things like college and career planning are totally foreign to them...the truth is, money does bring advantages that can make it simpler to be 'a great kid.'

 

[raven69david]

DW made a huge OOPS! My DW ordered a Keurig for her father for Christmas. Because we were headed to Disney, she had it sent to our son's friends house. We were taking our son's friend so DW figured it would be easy when we got back she would grab it from the Mom. DW asked the son to adk his Mom. He said he did. Turns out he didn't and the Mom now thanked us for the gift. All I can say is Ughhhh!

but seriously

They are 20% off now so you should get your FIL another one and get in good with him. Hard lesson but after all, it's Christmas and the spirit of giving should make it all worth while.

 

[NYCDiane]

Well, as someone who did not come from much, myself, it is harder to be good when you, for example, have to work a full time job all four years of high school, get made fun of for not having or not getting to do what the other kids do, not having the advantages in terms of having parents that know how to 'navigate' life - things like college and career planning are totally foreign to them...the truth is, money does bring advantages that can make it simpler to be 'a great kid.'

I completely agree!! When I was young, my family was poor. We had nothing and it was very hard being made fun of for not having or being called names for not having money or nice things or for having a "free lunch" card at school and being made fun of because of that (and for eating the school food at all)

I had absolutely NO idea how to navigate life and thought that any job was better than nothing in order to survive so I was always afraid to strive for something higher because I was always just trying to survive rather than be successful I didn't even end up going to college until I was over 30 because I had no idea I ever could.

I came from "not much" but I was always polite and respectful. It's a shame I didn't have any adults in my life who could have shown me the way.

 

[ceecee]

I too, feel bad that the op used the term "doesn't come from much" it seems irrelevant to the situation. That being said, the friend's mom wouldn't be able to afford a Keurig... Merry Christmas to her! You chose a great gift for her. Kohl's have them on sale, go buy another for her father. I just read that Lowes also have them on sale!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Definitely sounds awkward... I would just let them keep it though, it's about the only thing you can do.