Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OP - if you feel bad for the recipient of this gift why don't you surprise her with an anonymous Christmas gift delivered to her house?
I personally hate buying gifts for co-workers or people I don't know well. It's so forced and frankly when we were struggling financially when our kids were little, it was just one more Holiday stressor.
I think you really have to go into those kinds of exchanges without expectations. You go along to get along and leave it at that. I went to a couple of exchanges last year. I wasn't in love with anything I got, but not offended either. I think the group has to be in sync with each other for it to work out well. Different crowd... my teen went to one last night for a large group of teens. They had way too much fun, but then again, that group thinks two weeks of Frozen socks and a huge gummy dinosaur are awesome gifts.
I don't understand why it's optional, especially in a small organization.
What if only one person shows up with a gift one year? It seems like the practice should be required for all or eliminated altogether.
At any rate, as for the joke gift, it does seem like a bad risk to deviate from the usual without clearing it with others. That's the thing about jokes - not everyone shares the same sense of humor.
Do you open the gifts in front of the group?
There are people who do not celebrate Christmas.
Some consider Christmas a religious event only and do not get involved in the giving present part.
Some people have very limited funds and it would be a financial burden to purchase a gift.
Some people are trying to downsize and do not want more stuff.
It wasn't forced. Everyone doesn't participate. The person participated in previous years and knew what it was. I think I was clear enough in my post to avoid this type of reply.
I shouldn't have said forced but maybe arranged? I meant, it wasn't "I'm giving you a gift because YOU are special to me" but "I'm buying a generic gift for I don't know who, or for someone whose name I drew, because it is a 'thing' that the group is doing."
I do agree it was a crappy thing for the person to do, however, especially since they knew what kind of event it was. Any chance of pulling them aside and saying "what the heck?"
(snip)
I do agree it was a crappy thing for the person to do, however, especially since they knew what kind of event it was. Any chance of pulling them aside and saying "what the heck?"
I agree. Someone needs to take the clueless gift giver aside and discuss this incident.
I agree...pretty hard to give an opinion on something being a lousy gift when we don't even know what it was...for all I know it could have been something that I personally would think was pretty cool.
There are people who do not celebrate Christmas.
Some consider Christmas a religious event only and do not get involved in the giving present part.
Some people have very limited funds and it would be a financial burden to purchase a gift.
Some people are trying to downsize and do not want more stuff.
I'm aware.
That was my point, that this isn't a good idea overall and should be eliminated since, of course, they couldn't make everyone participate.
Location: When things get hot they expand. Im not fat. Im hot.
2,521 posts, read 6,330,160 times
Reputation: 5337
Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkalot
This has really bothered me for the last few days.
I lead an organization that always has a gift exchange at our Christmas party. Not a large group and the people always make an effort to buy a decent gift for the exchange. Except this year.
One person, who has been here for years and is far from poor, brought a gift that absolutely no one would want. For some reason they thought it would be funny.
The person that received the gift is the nicest, kindest, do anything for you person there is. She also has no family and there is a good chance that will be the only gift she gets this Christmas. She always spends over the suggested amount and buys something really nice, as most of us do.
I just want to say people should think before they participate in a gift exchange when you don't know who will pick the package you brought. It might not mean much to you, but it may to someone else.
Witnessing that would bother me too. Sounds like this has always been a regular gift exchange and "one person" knew this. Did they have nice ladies name or was this a random exchange. If they got her name and purposely got her a crappy gift then I don't think much of "one person".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
