Manners Matter: I’m Not A Delivery Service

Dear Mary Pat,

We have had a vacation home in Ephraim for years now. Most of our friends know this and when they find out we will be in Door for the weekend, so many of them will ask us to bring something back for them. I feel like I’m running a delivery service sometimes. They ask me to go to Bea’s or Seaquist or Simon Creek or Orchard Country or any number of their favorite places (some of them are our favorites too), but sometimes we have other plans and wouldn’t necessarily drive 35 minutes for a particular jam or wine. We also have friends wanting us to bring cases of Spotted Cow since it isn’t sold in Illinois. I’m happy to help when it’s convenient, but this is becoming a side job for us and we aren’t getting paid for our time. And even though it’s not a lot of money, sometimes our friends don’t have cash or a check handy and then we end up not getting reimbursed. I know it’s not done intentionally but it still is annoying. How can I politely tell them that our delivery service is closed for business?

Signed,

Deliver No More

Naperville, Ill.

Dear Deliver No More,

I think you just need to be direct with your friends and tell them that your time away is meant to be relaxing and that it’s not always convenient to drive all over the county. Not to mention that you then also have to find time to get the things to them once you’re back home. You can also suggest that your friends make their purchases online so they will have the benefit of door-to-door delivery. I’m sure your friends will see that this is a very reasonable solution and you can get back to living your weekend lives as you see fit.

Good luck,

Mary Pat