When I left for work this morning I found a note on my door. It was from a guy who said he whacked my mailbox with the mirror of his truck. The note had his name and phone number and all that good stuff. I inspected the mailbox, and while it doesn’t stand up quite as straight as it did before, and it has a new dent, the damage is pretty light. In fact, without the note I probably wouldn’t have even noticed. Well, I take that back. I would’ve noticed, but I wouldn’t have cared. It was a pretty ugly, old mailbox anyway, and I intend to replace it within the next year.
Here’s my question: Should I call the guy and tell him not to worry about it, or should I just not call him and let that be my way of saying “No biggie”? Judging by the tone of his note, this guy is excessively nice. If I call him, I’m afraid he’ll think that I’m saying “I’m pretending to tell you not to worry about it, but I’m really testing to see how good of a person you are because any good person would offer to pay me money anyway.” If I don’t call him, I’m afraid his conscience will drive him to stick an envelope of cash in my mailbox or show up with a replacement mailbox. I don’t think I’m just overanalyzing the issue, either; my family is filled with people who think like this.
What’s the proper procedure for communicating “you damaged my property and I appreciate that you 'fessed up, but it’s really no big deal”?