{"id":368,"date":"2006-12-11T14:23:19","date_gmt":"2006-12-11T18:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/shlep\/2006\/12\/11\/more-on-avoiding-gifting-headaches\/"},"modified":"2006-12-11T22:46:31","modified_gmt":"2006-12-12T02:46:31","slug":"more-on-avoiding-gifting-headaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/2006\/12\/11\/more-on-avoiding-gifting-headaches\/","title":{"rendered":"more on avoiding gifting headaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"alkasG\"\u00a0Back on Black Friday, shlep<\/em> offered holiday-season shopping information<\/a> to help our readers avoid shopping grief.\u00a0\u00a0 We hope you survived the post-Thanksgiving holiday\u00a0frenzy, with sanity and finances intact,\u00a0and will be able to get your Holiday Shopping completed before the last-minute rush.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are a couple more ideas for keeping the holiday spirit alive despite the rigmarole that accompanies this season.<\/p>\n

Gift Cards<\/strong> \"SantaSleighN\"<\/p>\n

The Motley Fool<\/em><\/a> (“Gift Cards Exposed,” Dec. 9, 2006) offers Commentary that is stuffed with common sense for those who want “the scoop on these festive little slabs of plastic.” Find out what to look for in the fine print, where and how to purchase them, what to think about and do if you receive one.\u00a0 The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Alert “Buying, Giving and Using Gift Cards<\/a>” also offers a good checklist, plus tips if you have problems or complaints.\u00a0 A condensed version is available in this Dec. 11, 2006\u00a0FTC press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kvetching Korrectly<\/strong><\/p>\n

A New York Times<\/em> article “Complaining Correctly Can Pay Off<\/a>” (Dec. 9, 2006) is filled with advice on how to get (relatively) painless satisfaction when you phone Call Centers with a consumer complaint.\u00a0 Many companies now rate their representatives on whether they solve the customer’s problem with one call and no transfers — rather than how many calls they can handle (terminate)\u00a0in an hour.\u00a0 This calls for a different attitude from both the consumer and the phone rep, and the article suggests ways to take advantage of the enlightened perspective on handling consumer complaints.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"candycaneGH\"\u00a0 Mad Kane on How to Avoid a Caning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humorist and recovering lawyer Madeleine Begun Kane<\/a> offers her Mad Gift Giving Guide<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0— a contract between Husband\/Father and Wife\/Mother meant to save a marriage or, at least, prevent trips to the mall to return unwanted gifts.\u00a0 In our experience, it is the Husband who especially needs this Guide, and who should be giving\u00a0special attention to the spousal\u00a0clauses in the Agreement (such as no self-serving or practical gifts for Wife and nothing that can be purchsed at an airport).\u00a0 The Guide includes good tips on gifts for children, and has helpful general advice and admissions, such as “Husband concedes that there is no connection between gender and gift wrapping.” and<\/p>\n

\"SantaList\"\u00a0“Husband acknowledges that reminding Husband about his parents’, uncles, aunts, and siblings’ birthdays is not the Wife’s job. However, in light of Husband’s actual or feigned absentmindedness, Wife will make reasonable efforts to do so. But if Wife screws up, Husband has to deal with his mother.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank-You Notes<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0(are to be encouraged throughout the year)<\/p>\n

\"candycaneGH\"\u00a0Thanks to Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, at Legal Literacy<\/em>.com<\/a>, for tipping us off to Mad Kane’s Gift Guide, in Blawg Review #87<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0and for pointing to the shlep<\/em> posting below on Scrooge and pro bono<\/em>.]<\/p>\n

Thanks, also, to the folks at Google, who have brightened our holiday season by making shlep<\/em>‘s About Page in the #1\u00a0result (out of over a million)\u00a0for the search request \/advocacy for self help law<\/a>\u00a0\/.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Back on Black Friday, shlep offered holiday-season shopping information to help our readers avoid shopping grief.\u00a0\u00a0 We hope you survived the post-Thanksgiving holiday\u00a0frenzy, with sanity and finances intact,\u00a0and will be able to get your Holiday Shopping completed before the last-minute rush.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are a couple more ideas for keeping the holiday spirit alive despite the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[896],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-consumer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}