Dear Jido,
A childhood friend graciously invited me to stay at her home for a visit. We had a great time. A few days after I left, she texted me that something expensive was missing from her home and asked if I knew anything about it. I told her I was sorry to hear the bad news and I don’t know what happened.
She has now blocked me on all forms of communication. I assume she thinks I had something to do with the missing item. I wonder if I could have handled the situation differently. Should I have perhaps offered to compensate her for at least part of the value of the missing item despite not being responsible for its disappearance? I don’t want to appear to admit fault, but I’m sad that our friendship has apparently ended over this. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Signed,
An Innocent Guest
Dear Innocent,
Try this:
Dear Jane,
It was so much fun spending time with you at your home going over all our childhood memories. I can’t wait to get together with you again and again.
I understand that shortly after my visit, there was an unfortunate occurrence. It could be that since then, you have been very busy and haven’t had the time to respond to my calls, or, perhaps, you are blaming me for the loss.
If that’s the case – then, I accept, even though I’ve done nothing wrong.
But now that I’ve accepted blame, even though I would never have done such a thing, you have to accept my apology and forgive me.
If you feel that you want me to make good on your loss, I’ll do that, too! Our friendship is worth more to me than a few dollars.
Hopefully in the next few days/weeks, the item will show up or the real culprit will be found. In the meantime, I hope that our friendship can go on uninterrupted.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Your BFF,
Mary
Send it by email, text it, call her, or use the old-fashioned method – mail her a letter.
Jido