A Rant on Family and Photos
First off, let me grease this topic a little by saying that I LOVE PHOTOS! I love taking photos. I love scrapbooking the photos. I love sharing the photos...
I hadn't realized that I wasn't sharing photos of David until my mother-in-law (MIL) mentioned that Lydia (Jordan's sister-in-law/SIL) was "upset" that "I didn't send them pictures of David". This annoyed me. At the time, I was updating the newsletter, photoshopping baby announcement photos, and getting those announcement pics printed out. I wanted to save on postage by sending the photo with the newsletter. Probably the most annoying thing about this was that 1- I was going to send photos and 2- Lydia never actually ASKED me for photos.
That got me thinking... maybe I should send more photos than just the announcement photo...
So, using a shutterfly coupon I got for 100 "free" prints (in quotes because I still had to pay shipping/handling)... I decided to order some extra prints for immediate family. (In my universe, immediate family consists of my and my husband's parents, grandparents, and siblings. I consider my aunts/uncles as extended family.) Because Lydia hadn't asked me, I decided to prompt her to tell me she wanted photos. I posted on Facebook (FB) that I was ordering photos in a week and that family should let me know if they want photos of David. It never occurred to me that certain aunts would want photos of my kid... but then I forgot that I have a couple aunts who enjoy being the "family historians". One of them requested photos before I ordered them. One requested photos AFTER I'd already ordered prints-- I realize FB is only as instant as people check their accounts/updates, but how hard is it to check dates on posts?... or to ask in a way that suggests you realize you're a little late?
Fortunately, I'd had a bit of luck when I ordered prints. CVS Pharmacy was having a sale on prints. I wanted to get my prints that weekend, not waiting for the postal service. So, I ordered prints I was sending to family at CVS and got prints for David's scrapbook through Shutterfly as that coupon was expiring. I picked up my CVS prints and we made a pit-stop nearby at Jordan's 'rents. The photos were in bad shape. I'd paid $30 for 300 photos and some were bent and others scratched. I drove back to the CVS and they re-printed the photos. Granted, it took me an extra 2 hours to wait for them to be printed again... but (probably because I didn't put up a big fuss and get all in-their-faces over the poor quality product)... they gave me a full refund and didn't charge me for the second set... AND... I got to keep the mangled ones (there were still some good prints in there). So... as a result of that adventure, I had extra photos. Money I'd have spent buying the prints could be spent on shipping, and it wasn't really a big deal to send extra prints to extended family. I even sent some to other aunts.
Things I learned from this experience:
1- Remember to send photos to long-distance immediate family right away.
2- Send lots of photos.
3- Don't post on FB asking which family members want photos because ANY family will think you're talking about them.
4- (I already knew this... ) Be nice to people who work with the public and magical things can happen... because they take a lot of crap from jerks and they appreciate a calm, collected person just trying to get what they paid for!
I hadn't realized that I wasn't sharing photos of David until my mother-in-law (MIL) mentioned that Lydia (Jordan's sister-in-law/SIL) was "upset" that "I didn't send them pictures of David". This annoyed me. At the time, I was updating the newsletter, photoshopping baby announcement photos, and getting those announcement pics printed out. I wanted to save on postage by sending the photo with the newsletter. Probably the most annoying thing about this was that 1- I was going to send photos and 2- Lydia never actually ASKED me for photos.
That got me thinking... maybe I should send more photos than just the announcement photo...
So, using a shutterfly coupon I got for 100 "free" prints (in quotes because I still had to pay shipping/handling)... I decided to order some extra prints for immediate family. (In my universe, immediate family consists of my and my husband's parents, grandparents, and siblings. I consider my aunts/uncles as extended family.) Because Lydia hadn't asked me, I decided to prompt her to tell me she wanted photos. I posted on Facebook (FB) that I was ordering photos in a week and that family should let me know if they want photos of David. It never occurred to me that certain aunts would want photos of my kid... but then I forgot that I have a couple aunts who enjoy being the "family historians". One of them requested photos before I ordered them. One requested photos AFTER I'd already ordered prints-- I realize FB is only as instant as people check their accounts/updates, but how hard is it to check dates on posts?... or to ask in a way that suggests you realize you're a little late?
Fortunately, I'd had a bit of luck when I ordered prints. CVS Pharmacy was having a sale on prints. I wanted to get my prints that weekend, not waiting for the postal service. So, I ordered prints I was sending to family at CVS and got prints for David's scrapbook through Shutterfly as that coupon was expiring. I picked up my CVS prints and we made a pit-stop nearby at Jordan's 'rents. The photos were in bad shape. I'd paid $30 for 300 photos and some were bent and others scratched. I drove back to the CVS and they re-printed the photos. Granted, it took me an extra 2 hours to wait for them to be printed again... but (probably because I didn't put up a big fuss and get all in-their-faces over the poor quality product)... they gave me a full refund and didn't charge me for the second set... AND... I got to keep the mangled ones (there were still some good prints in there). So... as a result of that adventure, I had extra photos. Money I'd have spent buying the prints could be spent on shipping, and it wasn't really a big deal to send extra prints to extended family. I even sent some to other aunts.
Things I learned from this experience:
1- Remember to send photos to long-distance immediate family right away.
2- Send lots of photos.
3- Don't post on FB asking which family members want photos because ANY family will think you're talking about them.
4- (I already knew this... ) Be nice to people who work with the public and magical things can happen... because they take a lot of crap from jerks and they appreciate a calm, collected person just trying to get what they paid for!