DEAR ABBY: My daughter was invited to a 6-year-old's birthday party at a sports event. We were asked to RSVP by a certain date, which I did. On the day of the party, my daughter got sick, so I called the mother to let her know that my daughter would not be coming. The mother said, "OK, just give me $15 for her ticket tomorrow." The tickets were part of a birthday package, which I would not have had to pay for if she were attending. If siblings of any of the guests arrived, one of them could have used her ticket.
Also, I checked with the box office and the mother is charging me $5 more than the face value of the ticket! How should I handle this? -- MIFFED IN AIKEN, S.C.
DEAR MIFFED: Send "the mother" $10 along with a sweet note, explaining that in the "excitement of preparing for the party" she must have confused the cost of the ticket -- because you checked with the box office and that's what you were told. (I wonder if you were being asked to also reimburse her for the cost of one slice of the birthday cake ...)