I Need Your Help
This does fall into the realm of saving money (spending less) because my decision on this issue will determine if I am going to have to spend money I really don’t want to have to spend.
Here’s the deal. I purchased a pair of glasses for my daughter a few months ago. Her vision is such that she can’t see the board in her classroom without them.
She was playing volleyball the other day in gym class. Although the kids have been instructed to roll the ball to the players on the other side of the net when the ball changes sides, a kid on the other side of the net threw the ball, hitting my daughter square in the face. She is fine, however, the glasses were not. The metal that holds one of the nose pads broke off.
The teacher’s response was to make the kid who threw the ball sit out for the rest of the class period and to send my daughter to the nurse. This did not get written up, per school procedures. The “substitute” nurse, sent my daughter to the office. Instead of calling either me or my mom to bring her another pair of glasses, the office sent her back to class.
I spoke to the principal about this yesterday. She told me she would pass my contact information on to the boy’s parents so I could work out remuneration with them. Although, according to her, she did speak to the boy’s parents about this, she did not pass my information on to them.
I spoke to the principal today. She started to back-pedal on the whole issue. She brought up that it was an accident and that the school could not make them pay for the glasses. She also said she was waiting on a call back from the district head of PE to find out what the district’s procedures are on these types of issues. Can you say “pass the buck”?
Fortunately, the principal gave me the name of the person she was waiting on a call from. I passed that on to my mom, who I knew would follow this up without all of the emotion I’d bring to the situation, considering that the school has really pissed me off with this.
She contacted the district PE director and they had not heard of the incident. She then spoke with the principal about it.
I have a question for my readers. If someone accidentally runs into your car, regardless of if they are sorry and it was an accident, who should pay? An alternative, and possibly more relevant question is, if your kid accidentally hits a ball through your neighbor’s window, who should pay?
It’s not fair that my daughter has to wear her old, and no-so-effective pair of glasses because someone else made a mistake.
Am I in the right on this or should I just drop it and foot the bill for new glasses?
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© Copyright 2009, John A. Simpson. All Rights Reserved.
Both…you are right and you should drop it and suck it up and buy another pair without expecting the other child’s parents to pay. Not fair…just life.
We now have all pieces of the broken frames. The warranty only covers breakage if all pieces are accounted for. I only have to pay $10. I’m dropping it as I don’t need the additional stress in my life. Thanks Maureen. It was your idea that led me to the information about the warranty.
John: Since it’s only $10, I agree you should let it go as not worth the stress.
If it had been the whole cost of the glasses? I would have sent a polite note to the parents explaining that since their son had disobeyed a specific school rule regarding not throwing the ball, of course they would want to do the right thing and pay for the damage (however inadvertent) the boy caused. Because after all, you know that they would want to set the right example for their son: You make a mistake, you apologize and you fix it.
If the street is icy and you accidentally slide into another driver, it doesn’t matter that you didn’t mean it. You pay for the damage you caused.
Just my $0.02.
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lol. My mom would have called her lawyer. Mind you, she’d end up paying more in the end… But its about the principle, right?… Yeh, I’d just let it go. Things happen.
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