Community Chat

[SunValley]

A tin of canned spam and a small bag of dried beans—meat beyond the expiration date and the bean package had half the writing rubbed off. I promptly put them in my garage gift bin—the garbage can.

[LonestarBabs]

I was in my 30s, single, and living in my first house out of state. My mother sent me a large ceramic merry-go-round carousel type of music box that lit up, had figures moving up and down to the music as they rode around, and was painted bright garish colors. My girlfriend laughed so hard but she had a brilliant idea: Take it to Walmart and return it for the money. It didn't come from Walmart, though. I thought about just donating it but found something similar that was priced over $100 so I took it to Walmart and got the $. No questions asked! That was a liberal return policy, for sure.

[qbetzforreal]

a plastic wall clock

[stargazergal]

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@chrystaltree wrote:

I think the worst and most offensive Christmas gift I ever got was about 25 years ago when I was very large, size 24-26.  A work friend gave me a lovely sweater in a size 14. She wrote in the card  "I hope this will give you the incentive to lose weight".   Like all it took to lose weight was a sweater.  A bunch of us were having our Christmas lunch at a restuarant in a mall, I quickly excused myself and went into a drug store and bought a tooth whitening kit.  I exchanged it for the gift I was going to give to her and wrote in the card  "hope you can use this to get rid of those awful brown stains on your teeth".  She did not stay for dessert....

GOOD FOR YOU !!!  That is GREAT !!!

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[CAcableGirl2]

@tototwo   I received an automatic garage door for a birthday gift one year.  That was the last time that I received a "household" gift. 

[songbird]

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@CAcableGirl2 wrote:

@tototwo   I received an automatic garage door for a birthday gift one year.  That was the last time that I received a "household" gift. 

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When my son turned 4, my father in law bought him a baby doll.  My son turned his nose at it. I didn't know what to do with it, so I gave it to my niece (that was at the same party) She had it for a long time. I still don't know why he got it.  I just thanked him for the gift and that was that.  It was one inexplicable gifts that you thank the person for and never see or mentioned the gift again.  

[Momofdogs]

Last year my better half gave me measuring spoons and cups and a pair of socks !

[Marp]

@doxie1,  thank you for sharing your stories about Moo.  I don't think a lot of people realize how social bovines are.

[busymom22]

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@ID2 wrote:

I can't think of one bad gift I've ever gotten. I like every gift because it means that someone spent their time, thinking of me and I appreciate it more than words can say. I would NEVER hate any gift. 

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It's easy to say that when you've never received a gift that was horribly thoughtless or even hurtful.

When I was growing up my mom's relatives were horribly cheap.  Mom would buy my cousins each a cool toy while my aunt and uncle would get me a cheap $1 picture frame. And they had more money than we did.  This happened year after year.  Sometimes it would even be used stuff.

My freshman year of college my doormates did a $10 Christmas gift exchange.  My gift came from the richest girl in the room. It was a box that had some hotel soaps and shampoos.  Her parents came from Europe and she told me how she just took those from their hotel room.

My sister's mother-in-law is spiteful with her gift-giving. She will deliberately give my sister things she knows she hates. She knows my sister is allergic to wool so she got her a cheap wool sweater.  

It is true that it's the thought that counts, but sometimes a gift reflects how little a person actually thinks of you.

[lovesrecess]

We had to do the "secret Santa" every year....but after 10 years they decided to make it voluntary to participate....only 15 out of 75 of the staff wanted to keep doing it...the rest of us opted out. Showed the higher-ups how popular it was. We had to fill out a list of things we collected, etc. and buy gifts for three days to add to that person's collection. The last year I did it I got a person who collected Eiffel Tower ornaments.....I am not kidding.....that was the last time I had anything to do with secret Santa.