School fundraisers are the bane of every parent’s existence. They’re always such a pain in the neck. While the kid is the one who is supposed to do the work, the parent is often the one tasked with the actual stress and effort of doing the selling. It makes sense that we parents freak out when we see those fundraising fliers.
One father on Reddit shared that he was fed up with his kid’s school after it didn’t give out the major prize promised. The dad says he’ll pull the entire order if their kid doesn’t get the prize he hustled for.
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The fundraiser was fairly typical.
The father shared that his fifth grader got a booklet with “typical” things to sell, like chocolate and flowers. He explained that there were “tiers” of prizes based on how many items he sold, between 10 and 200 items. If he sold more than 210 sold, the student would receive a VR Oculus. Over the course of two months, the parent and his kid sold enough items to win the Oculus.
The student worked hard to get the prize.
The parent went on to explain that his son sold 217 items, which totaled a “few thousand dollars in value.” Additionally, he mentioned “all the hours he put in to achieve his goal, now all the time ‘we’ have to spend delivering the goods.”
The dad wrote: “He comes home from school today with a 15$ gift card to dairy queen. There are no occulus to be handed out. I paid for the entire order off of my card and will collect the money when we deliver.”
After the child only received a gift card, the parent wants to pull the order.
Naturally, the parent isn’t pleased, and asked if he’s wrong for “telling the teacher he should be compensated or I will cancel the order.”
“This has nothing to do with the value of the item. I just seen my child learn some work ethic, and be highly motivated for his goal.” The dad said that his son was really excited about winning the prize, and it was disappointing to only receive a gift card.
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People suggested that maybe there was a misunderstanding.
“I strongly suggest you read the fine print of whatever he brought home,” someone suggested. “Those things are usually ‘go in the draw to win,’ not ‘every child who exceeds x amount of sales is guaranteed to get one.’ Doing that would absolutely bankrupt whoever is running the fund-raiser.”
“Please keep in mind that just because the fundraiser states they are offering a VR headset does NOT mean you will get a VR headset,” someone else explained. “What that can potentially mean is that your child was entered into a raffle drawing to win a VR headset when he sold over a certain amount.”
Many people suggested that the parent leave the teacher alone.
“As a teacher I have no part in these sales but passing out the paperwork,” one person commented. “I’d contact the company, principal perhaps, and/or the PTO, who’s actually running the show.”
Another wrote: “I wouldn’t talk to the teacher. They are the person that has to put the order forms in the kids backpacks. I would see who is running the fundraiser, like the Parent’s Club, and contact them directly. Or contact the school office to see who you can contact.”
“The teacher most likely has nothing to do with it,” someone else commented. “They are not in charge of fundraising. They are in charge of teaching your child. Call the schools main office and talk to them and they should be able to give you a contact person.”
Another teacher chimed in: “I’m a teacher. We don’t give a crap and have nothing to do with this. If you threatened me with that, I’d say cool. You need to find the person in charge of the fundraiser. Also, double check the fine print. Did it say you would definitely get that or if you reached that tier you could be entered to win or something like that? NTA but you have to find the person with power.”
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