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Is the receiver upset? If she is so kind and nice, I can't imagine a random gift will upset her.
I really don't like these kinds of gift exchanges, how do you buy a meaningful gift for a random person? You have no idea what they like or what they have.
If, as you say, this bothers you so much and you are the "lead" for this organization, sounds as if you are in a position to alter the gift exchange. Don't "guilt" or expose anyone. They know exactly why they did what they did. Make it completely voluntary, not directed. If individual employees wish to give gifts to someone they can. Isn't that sort of the point behind any gift?
Is the receiver upset? If she is so kind and nice, I can't imagine a random gift will upset her.
(snip).
While she may not have shown disappointment she probably felt disappointment, especially if this was the only present that she received for the holidays.
Once upon a time (10 years back), I used to paint Nature paintings, and belonged to an online artist's forum similar to this forum only a MUCH MUCH smaller scale. We decided to do a secret Santa exchange of small paintings. Some were more talented than others, but it was the idea that everyone thought was fun.
I painted many Common Loons back in the day. I drew a woman's name and spent a lot of time painting a (what I thought) was a very nice flower on stretched canvas and sent it off. We never knew who was sending us a gift until we received it.
The woman I sent the flower to, thanked me privately but said she was surprised and a bit disappointed that I hadn't painted her a Loon. WTF? I guess I could have painted her one had I known what she wanted, but I wasn't happy that my painting wasn't appreciated.
OP, it sounds like the gift in question was tacky, but we must all remember that beauty (and tacky gifts) are all in the eye of the beholder. They may have thought the gift was going to be the humorous hit of the party.
I think the OP enjoys the attention by not mentioning the gift. He has ignored the question a few times lol
I assumed they didn't want to say because they might be afraid saying what the gift is could identify them if someone they know happens to be reading? (long shot, but you never know.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by germaine2626
While she may not have shown disappointment she probably felt disappointment, especially if this was the only present that she received for the holidays.
Or maybe she didn't care. I would rather get nothing for the holidays than an obligation gift that probably wasn't something I actually wanted to begin with. (I hate obligation gifts.) Or maybe she didn't care about getting gifts at all; some people don't mind being alone on Christmas or not getting gifts or whatever.
I really don't like these kinds of gift exchanges, how do you buy a meaningful gift for a random person? You have no idea what they like or what they have.
Did you read my post? It was never a white elephant exchange, it has been going on for years, that person participated many times, people always bought nice things, no one is forced to participate.
Yes, I did read your whole post. Since the whole focus of the post is about this *gift*, would you care to share what the gift was, so that we may be able to give more informed opinions of this person's choice of gifts?
Gift exchanges almost always leaves *somebody* unhappy. I think that at every one of our gift exchanges over the years, I heard someone butthurt because "I spend $10 on my gift and all I got was something from Dollar Tree!"
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.
Then there is no obligation to participate in such a gift exchange. IMO if someone chooses to do so, they should put a little thought into the gift. I know it can be difficult to come up with a gift for a group exchange when you don't know the people well and you don't know who will get the gift. I generally see what I can come up with in the stated price range and pick something I would be happy getting. We belong to two organizations that have a Christmas party with a gift exchange every year, and if we plan to participate in the gift exchange we're asked to get a gift for a person of our own gender, and label it as such (for a Lady, or a Gent). The intention of this was to try and ensure that each person gets a more or less appropriate gift, though often it doesn't matter as many gifts are unisex.
The worst gift I ever got at one of these parties was an already opened, and very stale food gift box ( as in the gift boxes with the processed cheese samples, crackers, hard candies, sausage, etc. for sale at virtually every retail store out there during the holidays). The cellophane wrapping was broken, someone had removed some of the items, and the remaining items were either hard and dry and discolored(ie, little cheese wedges), stale (the crackers) and the little hard candies were sticky and impossible to unwrap. The person who gave the gift had wrapped it beautifully, and I have a hard time thinking they really thought such a gift was appropriate. IMO there is no excuse for giving such trash as a gift. In fact, I threw it away before we left the party.
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