<p>Edit…cross posted with mstee!</p>
<p>Gotta wonder if the folks who were supposed to get $15 let the real estate agent know they got $100.</p>
<p>How about a quick thank you email to the agent “we finally were able to use the gift card to the ____ restaurant. Your gift card paid for two very tasty desserts. Thank you”</p>
<p>Then see if she responds.</p>
<p>By the way, this restaurant was really good. Not only was the food excellent, but the 12-page menu was presented to us on an iPad!!! How cool is that?!</p>
<p>(And don’t burst my bubble by telling me that every new restaurant is doing this now! I was dazzled!!)</p>
<p>VeryHappy, your realtor friend is odd indeed. A huge faux pas. I think she is regifting too like Emeraldkitty said and forgot what the amount was. If I’m going to buy a $100 and a $15 GC I better make sure I write it down on the GC what the amount was for each card. Besides if it was $100 doesn’t the cashier write it down for you on the card that is used to enclose the GC? And if I forgot, how difficult is it to go back to the restaurant and inquire the balance?</p>
<p>What dadx said is true but since you’re not going to use the realtor again, I am tempted to do what mstee suggested.</p>
<p>VH, The onus was and continues to be on the realtor. She should have checked the amount ahead of time if there was any chance of a mix up. However, she did call to follow up on the dinner, so I truly doubt that she was trying to pull one over on you. It could be that the $15 gift card was a regift and used to be larger. In any case, the most I’d do is write and thank her once again for the gift card. I wouldn’t refer to a specific dollar amount or what it bought you. </p>
<p>My guess is that she’ll follow up. Then and only if she asks directly, would I consider telling her. I’d say that it’s certainly not necessary to resend and that her assistance with your real estate transactions is all the thanks you need etc. etc. What she does then is totally up to her. </p>
<p>acollegestudent, Just say an appreciative thank you for the wine, and do what you want with it! As other people point out, you can use to serve someone else, as a gift, or perhaps even use it for cooking, where the alcohol content burns off.</p>
<p>I dont drink either and sometimes get wine. My H drinks beer, but now my D is 21 so problem solved. I have a friend who gives me candy bark every year at Christmas, I don like it nor my family never say anything, and her kids have a nickname for me which I dont care for, but I dont say anything either. She is such a wonderful friend that I would not hurt her feelings.</p>
<p>The other thing that was odd about this was that our real estate transactions occurred at the end of October. On the day we moved into our new house, she called to ask me what kind of food DH and I liked. I assumed she was going to send a delivery, since it was move-in day. Instead she mentioned she’d like to give us a gift card for this restaurant. I thanked her and said that was very nice of her.</p>
<p>Then, she never sent anything. I remember joking to DH that I should send her an email thanking her profusely for the gift card! She didn’t provide it until Christmas time. The whole thing was odd.</p>
<p>And she certainly got two juicy commissions out of the two transactions.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what to think of this. I am a business owner and I can’t even imagine being so sloppy about gifts. </p>
<p>About teacher gift cards - a friend of mine is a kindergarten teacher and she has hundreds of dollars worth of cards that she has just put away. Many have expired. She is a person of very simple ways and says most of them come from stores she would never visit. I suggested she regift them - uhhumm - but I’ve not received any yet. She would be more likely to give them to a charity.</p>
<p>VH- I find I am a happier person when I limit contact with certain people. Your realtor is one who would fall in that category. I’d figure her card got you and your hubby out on a date at a restaurant you might not have tried. In the scheme of things, recouping the $$ wouldn’t be worth the interaction. </p>
<p>My DH would LOVE the iPad idea. He would return just because he thought that was cool. </p>
<p>So, do tell…what did you have for dinner?</p>
<p>Funny that you mention the iPad menu. We had a bill presented to us recently at a restaurant on a touch screen - had to touch several times to go through the bill and accept the charges, then the server swiped the card at the table. To be honest, we were a little grossed out by the germ factor( although typical menus and pens may not be much more sanitary). But at least you hold menus by the edges and can use your own pen.</p>
<p>I agree that she may have been regifting and did not know the amount or she may have known the card was only for $15 all along and just told you the story about mixing them up so that you would think she meant to give you $100 and she would not look so bad when you finally used it…knowing all along that most people would NOT get back to her about the actual amount.</p>
<p>cartera, tell your friend to sell those gift cards on ebay. If she offers free postage (they can use just a regular 1st class stamp) then she will usually get really close to the face value. She can then donate that money to charity or something if she wants to.</p>
<p>wnp2: It’s an “Asian bistro,” with lots of sushi which neither of us eat, but I had duck rolls for an appetizer and DH had lobster rolls. I then had a main course of some sort of chicken and DH had a shrimp dish and fried rice. The total bill was $68 – much higher than a regular Chinese restaurant would have been! But the ambiance was lovely, the service magnificent, the food excellent, and I loved the iPad menu!</p>
<p>roshke: I hadn’t thought about the germ factor. Very interesting, with everyone touching all over the screen. Ewwwwww. Glad I didn’t think about that last night!</p>
<p>If the iPad has a screen protector (in a restaurant, I would imagine it would) they can wipe it with antibacterial wipes. It might actually be cleaner than a regular menu!</p>
<p>Food sounds really good!</p>
<p>Not the same thing as iPads, but last night we had dinner at a restaurant with lighted menus. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them before (we don’t eat out much) but what a great idea! Here’s a website with pictures. [The</a> LED Illumination Collection](<a href=“http://www.thelightedmenu.com/]The”>http://www.thelightedmenu.com/)</p>
<p>Say nothing about the card.
There are people who bring chaos into others’ lives. I’m afraid your agent might be one of them. Best to avoid these people, unless you like chaos. </p>
<p>RE: Awkward gift situations. Years ago, H’s (female) office assistant and I shared a birthday. When I received flowers at home with a card that said “Happy Birthday from Dr. Jones,” I was afraid H’s assistant had gotten flowers with a more “personal” message.
When I called H to express my concern, he told me there was no problem–he was afraid they would get mixed up, so he used the same card/same message for both. (Whew! Smart, but sort of disappointing, too 
)</p>
<p>Anyone besides me wondering if the owners of this restaurant used this realtor for some transaction and gave her some giftcards??</p>
<p>Oh, and one of our local greek-italian places moved to a new location and tried the “menu on an ipad” thing several months back. They had a heckuva time getting it to work.</p>
<p>How much did you spend on this house? And you’re fretting about $85?</p>
<p>My husband and I were given a Visa gift card from a gentleman that we helped out while he was working in our area. He was happy that we were kind and helpful to him . I went to use it some time later ( close you a year ) and although it was still connected to the original packaging , and neither my husband or I activated / used it, it came up as having a balance much lower than the face value. I don’t think the gentleman made a mistake, or used it…I let it go because he would have been mortified if her knew . Personally , I think the card lost it’s value for lack of use , but I will never know…or he didn’t get what he paid for in the first place</p>
<p>Many gift cards (some of which had a credit card logo on it) used to lose value over time. They got a lot of bad press for that, so some stores stopped doing that.</p>
<p>My gut instinct is that she only purchased $15 gift cards, and for whatever reason thought a lie about a much more generous gift would make her sound very generous but ditsy, as opposed to simply cheap.</p>
<p>How hard would it have been for her to check the card amounts before giving them out? </p>
<p>I would let it go, although I really like the suggestion thanking her for the generous gift card which you used for a wonderful dessert.</p>