How to politely word a reminder email to a teacher

Question

Over the summer, my daughter attended a day camp at her elementary school. I'm trying to get reimbursed for it from my dependent care spending account, but need a receipt from the teacher who ran it. I sent her an email a few weeks ago asking if she could provide a receipt and included an example that another teacher had done a camp at the school. I've received no response.

I tend to be abrupt and to the point in emails, which has offended people in the past. What's the best way to word this so it comes across as a polite request and not rude?

Answer 1

It's very possible that they did not see your earlier email, or they saw it and meant to do it but forgot.

I would simply send a followup email, worded along the lines of

Dear sir/ma'am:

I am writing as a followup to an earlier email regarding a receipt for the day camp that my daughter [name] attended on [insert date]. This receipt is a requirement for me to be reimbursed from my dependent care spending account for the camp cost. If you have any questions regarding this, please either respond to the email or you can call me at xxx-yyy-zzzz.

I appreciate your response to this, and again if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your time!

This is a basic polite request, points out that it is a second followup, and outlines the necessity of having the receipt (as in, I don't get $$ if you don't produce).

As a secondary item, you could also consider cc'ing the administrative email for the school. I would be fairly certain that they would have to have approved the day camp, and if the teacher cannot get a receipt, they may be able to. The only downside is that if the teacher was not approved for the camp or similar, they may get in trouble for it.