Saying Thank You

[mbbored]

In the past few months I've called the police several times: late night firecrackers, noisy parties, drunk teenagers and just tonight a domestic disturbance. I appreciate that they treat me with respect and always respond promptly. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to do something nice for them. Would baking cookies be appropriate and welcome? Or should I pick up something store bought or just deliver a nice card?

What sayeth E-Hell?

[cicero]

In the past few months I've called the police several times: late night firecrackers, noisy parties, drunk teenagers and just tonight a domestic disturbance. I appreciate that they treat me with respect and always respond promptly. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to do something nice for them. Would baking cookies be appropriate and welcome? Or should I pick up something store bought or just deliver a nice card?

What sayeth E-Hell?

I think you can't go wrong with a tray of freshly baked cookies! I also think that police appreciate donations to police organizations

[jpcher]

I think cookies are a nice thought, but I'm wondering who you would deliver them to?

I mean, how large is your police force? Cynical me is thinking that if I delivered cookies to the front desk (behind a glass wall with locking doors) at my local police station it probably wouldn't get much further than that. Plus, it's possible that home made cookies would have to go through x-rays and testing in order to ensure they aren't loaded with drugs or a bomb or some such thing.

I know. That's a very sad way to look at the world.

Then, again, I don't live in Mayberry.

It sounds like you want to thank the entire force. Maybe write a letter to the Chief of Police, including incidents (times/dates) and specific officers, if you have their names, stating what you've posted here. You could also write to the Mayor or even a "Letter to the Editor" of your local newspaper expressing your thoughts.



Here's a thought . . . how about arranging something with the local doughnut (joke ) store or coffee shop for the next 10 police officers that come in for whatever their coffee is paid for by an appreciative citizen. Talk to the managers to see if this would work. You could even supply thank you notes to be given out with the coffee.

[Missy2U]

I have to agree with jpcher - in my town, the cookies wouldn't get eaten, unfortunately.  I know this for a fact as I tried it a few years ago. 

Have you considered having a local bakery maybe deliver a few dozen donuts/muffins/bagels/whatever and a box of coffee one morning? And police officers do like donuts - at least the ones I know do.    Include a letter to the Chief stating what you told us as well.

[kherbert05]

I say write a letter to the Chief detailing what happened and the excellent service by the department. Most people just complain about teachers, cops, fire fighters, the dmv, and other civil servants. A letter detailing good work is great.




I had to go in to pay my car registration this summer. I wasn't looking forward to spending the day there, but the summer before I used the pay at the grocery store option and got pulled over for 10 weeks after my registration was up because it didn't get entered into the data base. When I got there the line was out the door. They had things well organized and I was done and out in less than an hour.  I wrote a letter to the person in charge - and got replies from that person and that person's boss saying that a copy of my letter was going into the file of everyone on duty that day.

[camlan]

Write a letter and mention any officers' names or dates that you can remember.

Several months ago, I had to call the Public Health Office of my state at an ungodly early hour. A real, live human Public Health Nurse answered the phone, calmed me down, and promised to call back with the information I needed. The call-back came in 15 minutes, with a complete solution to my problem. The nurse had, in my opinion, gone above and beyond her responsibilities in helping me.

So I emailed the Public Health Office and thanked them for being available 24/7 and for having such nice people working for them. The director sent me a nice email back.

And I thought that was that. But last month, I got an email from the Public Health Nurse. My email had gone into her personnel file, and was brought out at her last review, and used to give her a promotion and a raise. So she sent me a nice thank you note.

I'm sure she would have gotten the promotion on her own. But you don't know how your letter could affect the people who serve you. If nothing else, it may make them feel good that someone appreciates their work. I'm sure they get more complaints than praise on the average day.

[Adelaide]

I'd suggest asking if you can call into a catering place and cater a light breakfast (coffee and donuts or something) one day and have a catering place do it. That way the food won't get thrown away on grounds of suspicion and it will also circulate to everyone.

[Jocelyn]

I once delivered several cases of soda to the registrar's office, as we were converting over to Banner (and if you work at a university, and you've lived through that, you know what I mean; if you don't, or haven't, suffice it to say that I've never heard of a Banner conversion that went well). I figured they might be suspicious of baked goods, but they'd certainly benefit from having a Refreshing Beverage. 

[miredrose326]

I do live in a small city (less than 10,000 people). One year near Christmas my dog got excited to see my mom and ended up getting her paw stuck in one of the heating grates on the floor. I don't know how. Well, after working on it and having her crying we loaded her up into the car and drove to the fire station to see if they could help (it's across the street), the emergency vet is 30 minutes away so the fire station was more practical. They worked on her for a long time and ended up using some very large cutting tool to cut the grate off of her foot. We were so grateful and a few days later we picked up one of those trays of party subs and a tray of cookies. They were thrilled to have them and they didn't last long.

I don't know if it would work the same way in a big city but around here the police and fire department love getting goodies.