How to reward a group for returning a lost item?

November 3, 2008 7:47 PM

Rewarding a good deed - We accidentally left something sentimentally and monetarily valuable in a pastry/bread store. A week later they returned it to us. What is a fairly inexpensive reward/gift that all the employees could enjoy?

My initial two ideas were to bake cupcakes or cookies but, being a store that specializes in that type of thing, it would be a pretty useless gift.

Some relevant details:.
--This type of honesty doesnt seem too common here among strangers. It seemed more likely someone would have given it away or sold it, especially after so many days. We'd like to do something but on a small budget, probably similar to the price of giving cookies, etc..
--I live in Chile. (Everything thought of might not be available, but if not maybe we could work off of it). Gift certificates are out.
--We think that multiple workers were involved and probably all of them were temped or gave advice on whether to wait around to see if the owner (us) came back. Hopefully this reward could be enough to go around/be shared by all the employees, we're guessing around 10.

Feel free to be creative. I have a lot of time on my hands and am excited to reinforce such a good deed.

posted by nzydarkxj to grab bag (9 comments total)

Seeing that you're in Chile.... how about a couple bottles of good wine to be split among the staff?
posted by HeyAllie at 7:58 PM on November 3, 2008

Some of the people in an office I worked at did something similar for a client. We were not allowed to accept any gifts that could look like bribes, so the customers just made a certificate similar to the official ones we had on the wall, framed it and sent it to us. The certificate said something along the lines of "This certifies that this is the most awesome office in the universe, and so and so are the best employees in the planet, signed, Grateful Customer". Everyone loved the certificate.
posted by dirty lies at 8:03 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Give the gift of great buzz. Write great reviews on travel websites, send blurbs to guidebook authors, sing their praises to all and sundry. The kind of viral marketing you can't buy.

In service businesses, it's usually the grumpy customers that blow up about the tiniest things and write to the review websites under the cover of anonymity. It's *so* nice to see a favorable review to tip the balance. They'll love it.
posted by ebellicosa at 9:49 PM on November 3, 2008

I think HeyAllie is the closest so far. The dudes won't benefit as much from buzz, the owner[s] will, unless they are the owners themselves. The certificate is nice but I don't think it's enough by itself. How sophisticated of a shop is it? Would a fan/AC be appreciated?
posted by demagogue at 10:47 PM on November 3, 2008

Could you bring in a meal for everyone? I'm thinking, pizza for everyone or whatever the Chilean equivalent is of a celebratory group lunch. It wouldn't have to be that expensive but it's something that everyone there could share. You could then thank everyone at once.
posted by Kangaroo at 5:56 AM on November 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

I agree with those suggesting food. Baked goods would normally be a natural, but they're surrounded by that all day. Perhaps a basket of fresh fruit to provide some nutritious relief from the baked goods?
posted by jacquilynne at 6:07 AM on November 4, 2008

Have lunch delivered with a thank you card? let them know it's coming a day or so ahead so everyone can partake.
posted by agentwills at 6:44 AM on November 4, 2008

Flowers and a heart-felt thank you note, accompanied by a picture of you with the thing of sentimental value.
posted by footnote at 8:52 AM on November 4, 2008

Thanks everyone,
havent decided ultimately what to do yet but i think it'll be a mix of a few of your ideas along the lunch/fruit/card line. the secretary where i work suggested flowers and chocolate so maybe that could be incorporated. and footnotes picture suggestion might be gold because it was actually a prize won in a competition

i really liked the creativity of the fan idea! we'd have to go back and see if they had one/space for it/prices etc. and frankly im not making enough money to cover rent much less electronics so we might have to resort back to food just on logistics haha, but i might keep that in mind.

also, the buzz thing would've probably been good elsewhere but i dont think it'd do much here for such a common store where people probably shop mostly by convenience and its not touristy. guidebooks probably arent big on where to get your bread. ..plus i think its name is something super unique like [translated] "bread store"

thanks again!
posted by nzydarkxj at 3:23 PM on November 4, 2008