Hi All
Having sent out over 70 packages of cuttings of my Dominick Heirloom Italian Fig Tree I was surprised at how many people didn't respond to receiving their cuttings. A majority of you fine fig folks sent the $5.00 contribution with a few nice people even sending more. I sent all these packages out on good faith and paid for everyones postage and packaging material. My goal was to get the fig into as many fig worthy gardens as possible. If I was able to recoup my expenses that would be great, if someone was interested in growing the fig and couldn't come up with $5.00 I was OK with that too.
However,
To receive a bunch of cuttings and to  not acknowledge or thank the sender is rude.
That person spent the time and money to do something nice for you. You should thank them.
Something to think about in the new year
Coop

Absolutely. I would have sent a thank you card and the requested donation if i had ordered, but I did not. I mainly get hoya cuttings and always thank the person I am trading with. I was reared Southern, so we sometimes go overboard on courtesy. :-) happy new year.

Been there done that Coop.
I know the feeling all to well. Common courtesy went out the window long ago.


Good luck

Coop I hope I said thanks at the time, but if I didn't. Thank You. I really enjoyed your story. I will bring you one of my U. Sorrento in the Spring.

Yeah, sounds like it was not a proper response. Could be a few of the collectors got busy with other Holiday stuff. In the future maybe you should trade instead of giving them away, which was very generous of you. I did a lot of photography work for a niece and I didn't get a proper Thank You,  Oh Well, Maybe she believes the family relationship, was enough. 

Sorry to hear that Coop, Im with you on that! Ive only recieved a few cuttings on here but a thanks goes along way. Ive even offered back cuttings from every one of my plants in return. If they refuse, I offer them a gift of home grown blueberries when spring arrives and I let them know when I get a new variety to share and offer them cuttings. Maybe Im going over board???? I dont think so! Like Gascony I was raised in the South and taught to never burn bridges. Teaching my kids the same. There are some very generous people on this forum and Ive had the pleasure of dealing with a handfull of them to date and you know who you are. A special thanks goes out to all of you and you too Coop for your generous offer.

Peace

Completely agree. I recently sent out a nice free tree shipping included and could not even get a acknowledgment that the tree arrived safely.

Proper etiquette is a lost art in American my friends. Very often people don't even acknowledge gifts these days. Sad.

Hi Coop
Sorry to hear that.
Maybe we should have a shame thread. It's all how you were raised.
Vito

That's so sad :(
Another generous F4F member recently told me this, and I've been re-reading it every day like a mantra:

"Honestly, nothing beats the feeling of doing nice things for others ...no matter how bad or tough things get. You just never know how the smallest, simplest things you do can have such a huge impact on others. Sometimes in ways you  may never see or understand."

I would recommend everyone READ that again, absorb it & USE it! :)

Coop, I sincerely hope that in spite of the oversights commited by some of your recipients, they will read this, learn the 'lesson', and 'pay it forward' in time. And the fact that YOU took the time, effort, & $$$ to send out those cuttings and continue this Great Tradition with Dominick's Tree says a lot about the Big Heart you have!
I haven't bothered you for cuttings myself yet (letting you get through this year and get all those 70 packages out!) but I will bug you soon :)
On behalf of Myself, this wonderful Forum, and our Fig-Friends that maybe got too wrapped up in the holidays and forgot their manners...
THANK YOU COOP!!!

Coop, sadly on a smaller scale, I have had the same experience with a couple of people to whom I sent cuttings. Its just common courtesy to acknowledge receipt of cuttings and to follow through with payment. Along that line, I am happy to report the sighting of small roots and swelling buds on 2 of my cuttings. Thank you again and long live Dominick and his fig.

Coop, I certainly hate to hear that. I agree with everything you said and dcfromsocal quote. If you can be courteous and thankful when someone
does something nice for you, you should send it back to whence it came.

I say thanks again Coop not only for the cuttings but also the story. It is worth more than thank you itself.

Hi Coop,
been in same boat .
Pm's and emails been closed for obvious reasons.

I thought it was a natural instinct to show courtesy and say 'thank you'  and to complete the understandings of the transaction (postage/cost/exchange etc) ASAP. PM is such an easy way to acknowledge with thanks and whatever else that needs to be said like excuse for delay in completing the reciprocity or other conditions that were understood.
This is the only way to keep this exchange process going by avoiding burdening the donor. Not acknowledging with thanks is a kind of burdening on one's thoughts that can slow down the generosity.

We should also keep in mind a proverb that says 'the taste of forgiving is far more than any other taste....'. Let us hope that slowness in acknowledgment/thanks would be redeemed in some good way.

Sorry to hear of your bad experience Coop.  Sad to say in my short career on the figgy forum my percentage rate of "thank yous" or "Received your package today" is not what I had hoped for. 

And I was born in the North and always say "thanks", "please", "excuse me" and hold doors open for people.  Last year (my first year doing this) I not only said "thanks" I sent every member that shared with me a Christmas card just so they knew their efforts and kindness were especially appreciated.

Your right coop, I don't know what the other packages looked like but I had a bundle of cuttings in the one I got from you. Common courtesy goes a long way. Thanks again.

Coop I may be one of those folks that just forgot. If I did, I don't mind admitting that I am one of those folks. Again, I do apologize and will be sending you double. I am not like that.

I'm still upset that I have to start wearing glasses!

Dennis, wearing glasses is a small price to pay for the blessings of having eye sight that you can see with all that beautiful black figs with luminescent blue hue on it... and a lot more things around.

By the way, one of the reasons that I wanted to hear from everyone is just to make sure that the cuttings got to you. I have already heard from someone that I sent a package to that didnt get it.
If you sent me your address, I sent you a package. If you didnt receive your cuttings please let me know, i'll send you another. The project is still meaningful to me.
Thanks Bob, you are right, and I appreciated your generosity
Coop

Coop, although I received your cuttings second-hand, thanks for your generosity and for sharing the story of how you met Dominick and for spreading the friendship. Peace.

I'm pretty sure I said thanks in the other thread where many others said thanks.  But I'll say again.  Thank you very much.  I'm looking forward to growing this tree.  I haven't started it rooting yet.. the one's I started before I got yours are already getting out of hand inside the house since it's too cold outside.  So I'm going to have to wait a little closer to spring to get them started.  I'll start at many as I can and give them away locally along with your letter.

Thanks again!
James

Coop,

I don't think I received any cuttings from you, but I have found that I have gotten confused when a package arrives with the senders name on the package but not their handle. I have also received cuttings that are not labeled. It just makes it easier to send a thank-you if you know who sent it and what it is. I have received so many cuttings from the wonderful members here that I have not been able to keep proper track. I apologize to anyone I have missed sending a thank-you to.

For the first ever package I received from sender (i won't mention names or handles) I had no Idea who to thank and I asked Armando how to figure it out, LOL I'm new at this and had no idea how to research forums and so on... anyway, turned out that I had payed this nice person through my PayPal and forgotten all about it.
So...behalf of all the "rude" people that didn't know how to acknowledge your kindness, allow me to apologies for them to you Coop. "I am very sorry"

i'm disappointed to hear that some people didn't respond to receiving  your wonderful cuttings.

in my book, those are not nice people.

i never thanked you in public, but i do so now. i hope you accepted the private thanks i offered.

as you know, i truly cherish these cuttings and love you for your kindness.

i would very much like to know the names of those ingrates.