Somebody Can't Count

As I sit here completing the paperwork for Baby O to transfers schools in September I thought it would only be fitting to share another THAT MOM post. Reagrding her current school so, here’s a another one for ya...

Back in March Baby O’s school announced that they were doing an optional fundraiser which I totally decided I’d ignore. Because, in my mind there was no way they expected my tiny tot to go out and raise money for the school. I honestly assumed that although the email went out to everyone it was only applicable to the older kids at the school.  Whelp, I wrong, I arrived at the school and found a crisp white folder, with Baby O’s full name on it, and all the fundraiser information inside.

Being the parent I am I politely went to the front desk to determine exactly what they were raising funds for since that little detail was missing. The director informed me the funds raised would go towards having technology in the classrooms.  I thought it over for a few days and decided it was a good enough cause to support even though I didn’t agree with how the school was enticing parents to compete (I say parents because we all know the kids weren’t actually doing the solicitations).

However, I’m very competitive and when I decided to support I knew I had to give it 100% so, I begin my solicitation efforts. Thankfully the items were very easy to sale so Baby O sold a ton of stuff; I turned the packet in, and just knew my baby was the schools winner. 

Wrong Again! After all the submissions were handed in the school sent the following email (Names have been changed to protect the innocent)...

The results are in for our Claire's fundraiser from last month. We are thrilled to report that our participating families sold $5,379.40 worth of items, which resulted in ...... $2,156.75 in funds raised to improve technology for our classrooms! We also have some private donations that have not yet been accounted for in that total.

As promised, our 2 top-selling families will receive a $100 credit on their tuition. Congratulations to the Wrong and Doe families on raising a combined total of $1438.75 between them! Also, every family who participated received 1 entry for every 10 items ordered into a lottery drawing for $100 cash. Congratulations to the Right and Doe families- you can pick up your winnings today!

Again, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who participated. We are blessed to have such wonderful families invested in their children's education!

Upon receiving this email my first thought was...Hmmm that’s very interesting but, I totally wish they would have broken the totals out so I’d know exactly how much we lost by. But, that’s awesome the school raised so much.

Then pick up day came and things got interesting.

When I arrived at the school to pick up the items everything was sorted nice and neat. My lovely order form was printed for me so I could confirm my order. So I did and it was accurate however, the total amount raised was off. They had totally miscalculated Baby O’s web orders.

I Informed the front desk because, at this point I wasn’t sure if they school had even got the credit for those orders. I was instructed that the person I needed to speak with was gone for the day so I’d have to send a follow up email. The next morning I sent the following;

Good Morning Ashley,

As promised I logged into my Claire's account to get the names of everyone who purchased in support of Olivia and the school.  I've provided the details below for your review.  Once again I would like to make note that everyone did receive their order either direct shipment to their homes or via my school pick up yesterday. However, I'm not sure the school received credit for all of Olivia's orders because based on the totals I received in my packet yesterday Olivia didn't receive credit for all of them. Please let me know if there is anything I else I can provide to assist in your research in this matter.

Basically... Based on my calculations your fundraising total is incorrect and we actually raised the most funds lol.

To which I received a follow-up phone call saying... Hi Sheena! We totally received credit for your web orders and it looks like we owe you $100 credit on your tuition so, we will be putting that on your account today.

Ummmm thanks I guess. I’m grateful for the credit that I worked hard for but, totally don’t appreciate the way they handled the situation. Like...

• Sure we can go ahead and disregard the fact that you can’t count. So you got the credit but didn’t think enough to give it to the correct family...shady boots
• No you don’t owe us an apology or at least a thank you.                              
• No the school community doesn’t need to know that my infant raised the MOST money for the school.
• After all, our family and friends only helped raised a little under $1,000.00 for your school. The least you can do is pretend you care.