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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to take un-named, unlabeled uniform from the lost property box?

136 replies

Amoral · 10/07/2008 21:47

It's been sat in reception for a week, everyone has had a rummage and I figured anyone who was going to recognise them would have done.

Have I been unreasonable?

OP posts:
Wallace · 11/07/2008 08:27

YANBU

MamaG · 11/07/2008 08:52

DD left her jumper at school hte other day

The (hastily scribbed in biro) name had washed off hte label, I knew that so I was pissed off as I knew we had no way to identify it

DD went to look int eh classroom and found an unnamed jumper in her size - she sniffed it and recognised it by the smell of our washing powder - future career as a snifferdog beckons

Lovesdogsandcats · 11/07/2008 09:14

How odd mamag, just had a conversation about getting lost jumpers back before end of term next week, with ds. I said you need 3 jumpers but cannot remember if they were all nemed or not, he said 'doesn't matter, I smell them and can tell mine from the smell'

misdee · 11/07/2008 10:27

dd2 told me at the start of the week her plimsolls were missing. so i checked every single plimsoll in the cloakroom, found one down one end of the room, on its own, (with her initals in it) and the other one a little boy had been wearing with his own one. so i took it back and let their teacher know that this boy had been wearing one of dd2 plimsolls, so he would be missing one. troucle is, the one the boy had been wearing si now all covered in paint splats.

thank goodness its just two weeks til lthe end of term.

mysteryfairy · 11/07/2008 10:34

Haven't read the whole thread so apologies if I'm duplicating but I don't think you should take things before the end of term - they could belong to a child who is ill, on holiday, in childcare so parents not there to search through etc etc.

What I did use to do to help out when my sons were at a local school was take unclaimed lost property to the charity shop on the last day of term. This is what was advised to parents would happen and it saved the staff doing it. DS2 chewed his jumper cuffs so his jumpers were always disgusting and picking through the lost property before I handed it over was a way of keeping down the cost of keeping himm presentable. I did donate to the charity shop for the clothes I kept of course.

BettySpaghetti · 11/07/2008 10:34

DD lost a brand new (labelled) school cardigan within a week last September. Its never turned up. I've frequently trawled through the lost property box but its never crossed my mind to select an unlabelled replacement.

As far as I'm aware any stuff thats unclaimed for a long period of time is put into the second-hand uniform sale, the proceeds of which help fund after-school activities etc

ChippyMinton · 11/07/2008 10:43

I would've suggested everyone sews in nametapes and writes on the label too. But the other day a friend showed me her DS's jumper which had found its way back to her. Her DS's nametape was still sewn in. Someone else had crossed through it with biro and written their own child's name on the jumper label. We were astounded that they couldn't even be bothered to unpick the nametape - if they had, they would've got away with it. The boys are in the same class BTW, so no excuse at all.

sitdownpleasegeorge · 11/07/2008 11:01

What I don't understand is why there are so many labelled items in the lost property box.

Don't parents even look in there for them ?

I'm a bit of a busybody so I've taken to hanging some of them on the relevant children's named pegs in the cloak room in the hope that they'll take them home again. I regularly retrieve one of ds's jumpers from the lost property box and his are clearly labelled with a sewn in label in the neck so that he can see which one is his at a glance. Other mums mostly seem to use a laundry marker on the washing instructions label inside which is a lot of effort for the reception class children to identify their own so I can see how they end up in lost property.

As for unlabelled items, well that is sheer madness and if they are unclaimed at the end of term they should be taken by anyone in need to avoid waste and landfill.

We did lose a clearly name-taped jumper at the end of term before Christmas and it has never turned up. One can only conclude that the label was cut out and someone in need carried on using it having relabelled it or maybe it's still bouncing in and out of lost property but without the nametape.

I would keep the jumpers you have taken if you are truly skint and just be prepared to donate them plus any others you have once your child has grown out of them.

itati · 11/07/2008 11:03

Thief
YABU

Original poster
Amoral · 11/07/2008 13:25

Have checked with the school - the table was there as a jumble rummage, you were supposed to take what was definatly yours plus anything unlabeled that you fancied. The secretary said it was to encourage parents to label!

The upshot is I can now refuse to feel guilty.

I am not a thief.

OP posts:
itati · 11/07/2008 13:26

You didn't say that in the beginning. Surely you bought enough uniform for the September start so why do you need to take more?

HermanMunster · 11/07/2008 13:31

"How would they know it was theirs though?"

they won't. but i know one thing, you are certain that it's not yours.

if you're happy to steal then take it.
if you are not then don't.
simple as really.

Original poster
Amoral · 11/07/2008 13:35

You haven't read the thread, have you Itati?

OP posts:
Original poster
Amoral · 11/07/2008 13:36

Did anyone read the post I made just now? The one that says the school left the table out for the purpose I used it for? And that I have checked this is the case?

OP posts:
misdee · 11/07/2008 13:40

good for you amoral.

will be asking about second hand sale next week. am hoping they are having one.

otherwise its two jumpers each dd to last the whole year.

Dior · 11/07/2008 13:41

Message withdrawn

palaver · 11/07/2008 13:43

Amoral my children's school does something similar at the end of the school year. I took the opportunity to donate a few things that my children had grown out of and I hope someone who need these items can make good use of them

itati · 11/07/2008 13:44

I read the OP. You never said the school said you were allowed to take unlabelled uniform. You have still taken something you know not to be yours.

UniversallyChallenged · 11/07/2008 13:47

DS starts school in September and we had a table set out this week for us full of lost property to get odd bits of uniform instead of paying full price.

I got 2 sweatshirts, 2 polo sirts, 2 pairs of shorts, PE top and a hat for the princely sum of £11.50!! Think it's a great idea and would of saved me hundreds over the years if other schools did this

Original poster
Amoral · 11/07/2008 13:50

It is the last day of term today, and yes in hindsight I should have checked, if only to spare myself the moral agony, but certainly so I didn't do anything wrong. The sec said some of the clothes have been there for years.

OP posts:
Original poster
Amoral · 11/07/2008 13:52

That's because I didn't ask, which is why I posted (in hindsight) on here.

If I had found out that table was for lost property only, I'd have put those jumpers back this morning. I took them with me.

And I still think it is better to make use of something that is going to be thrown away.

OP posts:
Original poster
Amoral · 11/07/2008 13:54

I am going to suggest that we hold a uniform sale next year. There must be plenty of parents with spare uniform knocking around.

OP posts:
Tortington · 11/07/2008 13:54

when i was skint i told my kids to go to lost property

so sue me

TheHedgeWitch · 11/07/2008 13:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Tortington · 11/07/2008 13:56

that was when i was embarrassed - now i don't give a shit.

a teacher gave my dd a blazer last week she got off the year 11s who left - becuase dd's was so fucked i chucked it - and I refuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse to pay £35 for another 1 week before end of term.

ds's blazer is also fucked - he wears it in its holey, fucked, paint splattered condition - for same reason.