Holiday Gifts

The policy at our facility is that we cannot accept gifts from the residents or their families. We're not even supposed to take food from them if they offer it. I hate telling them that I can't accept their offers, so sometimes I just take what they give me and turn it in to Social Services. Sometimes, if it's just a piece of candy, I'll take it. Fire me. It makes them feel good and keeps them from eating the whole box themselves, so I think it's worth the risk of getting in trouble.

So, I turned in a gift card one of the resident's had given me. I suggested they call the daughter (who had bought them) and tell her we can't accept them and ask her if she wanted to donate them to the facility and not tell the resident because I didn't want their feelings hurt.

I got a call today saying I could come in and pick the gift card up and keep it. Apparently, the daughter had bought a bunch of them and only two of us turned them in. Since the facility "didn't know what else to do or who had gotten them", the two of us who were honest about it are getting them back.

I'm not sure this is exactly how it should be handled, but there it is. And I need some jumper cables for my car, so that's what I'm going to buy. That way I'll be able to get a jump when I need it for old Pearl this winter which will keep my attendance good and that benefits the facility, right? Or that's how I'm justifying it to myself anyway.