Aibu? I’m genuinely not sure

[calacatta]

I was in a position to do the “Delivering Joy” initiative in Dunelm. For anyone who doesn’t know it, you pick a tag off the tree and it’ll have the gender, age and what they’d like for Christmas.

I spent a lot of time on mine as I wanted someone who might not get anything actually feel special at Christmas.

I took it into store (it was really quiet) and gave it to the woman working the tills and the interaction went -

“Is this where you drop off the delivery joy gift bags”
“yes”

Handed it over. That was it. I just thought there would be a “thank you”. Literally nothing more was expected. I’m not this generous person they need to bow down to and so many people will have participated.

Aibu unreasonable to have expected a thanks?

I’m sure the recipient will be very grateful. I think you’re probably expecting too much from the cashier.

Brilliant answer and entirely agree.

Yanbu. They're asking customers to spend money on their initiative so should be grateful when people participate. A quick thank you is basic customer service.

Exactly this.

Yes she's a dickhead but don't let that impact your good feeling about the initiative.

Not the same but I drove a friend to a shop to collect a prize and had won recently for sharing their page via social media. The owner of the shop was there, took the prize out, grunted at her and made her pose for a photo. I thought it was so strange. As a business owner myself I would have been much more enthusiastic and congratulated her. Also I - a potential customer - was filled with goodwill and in the shop for the first time admiring the stock; she ignored me.

I genuinely do hope they love their gifts. I just think that as the cashier is the representative of that person that it only takes a second to say “thanks”

But yeah maybe you’re right .. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain without sounding like I want eternal gratification when it genuinely was just a thanks/thank you that would absolutely be enough.

A thank you have been the normal answer. Let it go.

That’s crazy … it’s so true that one bad impression can really put you off. It’s a shame as I won’t be participating next year (I’ll still donate to charity of course).

They should be able to manage a thank you and a smile. I think it's crap manners.

The company does this as part of their community involvement policies.should at least tell the staff to say thanks --forMakingThemLookGood-'

This

People don’t need to be told to “let it go”, allow people the place to vent.

Agree the recipient will be grateful. But it’s basic customer service to be polite and acknowledge the receipt of the gift. If the cashier doesn’t have customer service skills she shouldn’t be in a public facing role

On two occasions I have donated large bags of expensive dog food to our local dogs home. Both times,despite the reception being empty, the person at the desk just said “put it over there” with no acknowledgement or thank you. I do are somewhere else now. It is so counter productive when they treat people who want to help this way.

The cashier isn’t the representative of the recipient though. I agree they should have had the basic manners to say thankyou but they are not really obliged to do anything else.

Yanbu, its the most basic of manners and customer service

If it's all that casual I would worry if the present gets to the proposed recipient, was there no paperwork at all?

I agree the cashier should have said thank you but she could have been distracted or having a bad day. Ultimately you are doing it for the recipient and not the cashier or the store. I think you are unreasonable to let this put you off participating in future based on this interaction. The recipient will I am sure be very grateful. Does it matter that you don't get to witness the gratitude first hand?

The cashier represents Dunelm. It's a bit of a stretch to say she represents the recipient and can express gratitude on their behalf.

Obviously good service would be to say thanks and that would also have fulfilled Dunelm's aim in running this initiative (ie PR for Dunelm). So she's not done her job brilliantly but I wouldn't let that affect your feeling about having donated. You're not donating to Dunelm.

(I feel slightly differently when people grumble about not having been effusively thanked by fellow volunteers. That really irritates me- the grumbling, I mean.)

Then maybe you should think about why you are allowing that to happen. The cashier is not going to benefit, but the person receiving it will. I would not let the behaviour of one person put me off.

I just think that as the cashier is the representative of that person that it only takes a second to say “thanks”
I wouldn't see the cashier as the representative of the person at all. They represent the store. I don't think the store as a whole even represents the person who is ultimately getting the gift.

A "thank you" would normally be automatic but I don't I'd notice if it was missed. I'd be neither expecting thanks or not expecting it

@calacatta YANBU and that was a lovely thing to do and I understand it was a bit anti climatic just to have had such a minimal interaction. Unfortunately, everyone is different in terms of what they think acceptable customer service is and someone somewhere else dropping off their parcel will have got a different more chatty assistant who probably did thank them and they went out the store on a high. So YANBU but you probably are BU to have expected the response you didn’t get.

Im going to hazard a guess that the cashiers experience of the scheme running in that shop is that it adds inconvenience and hassle to their working day. So quite probably literally didnt care and wasn’t at all thankful to you. They may be someone who’s been turned down by the scheme previously.

Yes, she’s not done a great job on being part of administering her employers scheme but that may be more of a reflection of how they’ve engaged with their staff on it.

For future reference, routes where you deal directly with the organisation or their volunteers tend to be better on their appreciation than third party collection points are.

Why won’t you be donating next year? Is that because you didn’t get a thanks this time?

That's a very petty reaction. YABU.

A thank you is basic manners - you don’t need a song and dance but I would advise the store that the service was poor