Early in the day I was working at a customer’s house . It wasn’t a particularly fun job trying to snake a wire from the a crawl space in the very hot eaves of a house to the basement. The guy left for a while and came back with ice coffees. It was a very nice gesture, except I really don’t like coffee.
What am I supposed to do when this happens. It happens every once in a while. I usually take a few sips until I get it to the truck and it says there till I drive down the street and dump it out. I don’t want the person to feel bad. If I will be seeing the person again in the near future I accept it and let them know water is fine too. With most people it is unlikely I will see them again for years.
Then this afternoon I was doing a delivery to a soda bottling plant. The production manager is the guy I deal with. One of the production lines is in the vicinity of were I park the truck to be unloaded. A good percentage of the time he grabs a case of whatever happens to be going by and gives it to me. I only drink diet soda. I take it back to the office with me if it isn’t diet. Between the three of us we normally know someone who will drink it. For the past month we’ve had a case of an obscure flavor sitting around while we try to find a home for it.
Anyone else get gifted things they really don’t want?
During my sophomore year in University, I received one of those HUGE fluffy teddy bears for my birthday from a friend.
It was my 21st birthday.
I’m a guy.
I don’t hate teddy bears but c’mon! I wasn’t a jerk (and still am not one today) so I accepted it with a smile but I donated it to a charity a few months later.
But it was fricking HUGE. The damn thing scared me. I half expected to wake up in the middle of the night and see it at the foot of the bed with eyes glowing red and sharp sharp claws.
Did’ja have roommates at the time? I would have totally hidden the bear in closets and whatnot to freak out other people. Bonus points if it topples onto them.
For my 21st, my father gave me a traditional white gold necklace with matching earrings, even though he had enquired a few weeks before whether I would wear such a thing, and I had told him that no, it wasn’t really something I would ever wear.
What did I open up my perfectly wrapped (by the jewellers) box to find? A ‘lovely’, matching jewellery set. I pretended I loved it and wore it when I saw him the next few times. We don’t talk now (and no, it’s not because of the present!) and every time I see it in my chest of drawers, I have a fleeting wish to sell it, but I don’t think I could actually bring myself to do it.
My mother likes to use me as a dumping ground for gifts she doesn’t want. Last time I saw her she gave me 40 powder puffs (??), a size of XL pyjamas (I wear an XS-S), two foldable camping tables (I think she thought they were chairs and I could use them on the balcony) and a step-ladder (ok the step-ladder was useful).
Being that I’m one of those strange people who don’t drink coffee (it makes me dizzy, at least in Spanish strengths, haven’t bothered try the US version), I ask people whether they want something to drink and list the menu.
The only time I can think of that I got a gift I didn’t want or like, and it wasn’t from my brother so I couldn’t give him a “gee thanks :rolleyes:”, it was a very heavy sculpture. I said “thank you” like it was the gift of my life, lugged it all the way to Spain, and when one of my brothers said he liked it gave it to him right away.
SiL passes around the pens and notebooks she gets from medical salesmen. The pens I use, the notebooks usually have ridiculous sizes or shapes so I don’t take any.
I work in a rural area, and traditionally whiskey is given as a gift, or offered for hospitality. At Christmas, I usually get about four bottles of Hennessy brandy, probably five or six bottles of whiskey, and maybe twenty-five or so bottles of wine from clients.
I drink beer and wine in moderation, but have virtually stopped drinking all spirits since realising in college that they didn’t agree with me. One way or another, by the time the next Christmas has come around, lots of the spirits I’ve received are still in the cupboard!
My mother likes an occasional (very occasional) drop of brandy, but I can’t very well give her four or five bottles at a time. Other family members aren’t really spirit drinkers either.
I suspect the kids are wondering why the cornflakes cupboard is filled with drink :eek: . I can’t exactly donate them to a needy charity or to the local hospital.
I literally poured it all down the sink a couple of years ago, but now it’s as bad as ever. I don’t even *want * to throw it away, because it’s actually good stuff: Jameson’s, Hennessy, Redbreastand Bushmills, even bottles of 10-year-old Bushmill’s malt.
Every year, I give as much as I can away. Oh well, I guess there’s a huge party coming at my house at some stage…
Oh, by the way, the wine definitely doesn’t go to waste!!
I hate the gift-giving system and I think it is overdue for a change.
I hav enough money to buy any gadget in the normal gift-range-price of 10-15 dollars. So what I need, I have bought. I place immense value on my time and on the things that occupy my living space. And I hate to toss stuff in the garbage that is pretty or useful, just not pretty or useful to me.
So anyone giving me something I don’t want, in effect gives me a lot of bad things;
-I have to pretend I like it when I don’t,
-I sadly have to acknowledge the person giving it to me either has horrible taste or thinks I have got horrible taste,
-and I have to spend valuable time finding a useful place for the things I want out of my house.
I like the system where someone inquires before they’ve bought a gift if you want it, so you can still honestly say “no”. And I like it when people give time and energy, instead of buying something.
There are gifts and there are refreshments. Being handed a cup of coffee is one of those times you say “thanks.” Its appropriate to take a few sips (or not) and throw the rest out. It isn’t a huge imposition on you and its a nice gesture on the giver.
Gifts on the other hand - I’m a gift hater. Once again, its a nice gesture. But to me, a gift carries an obligation - and it isn’t an obligation I’m want to take. My mother in law is always giving me crap - and I appreciate her generousity, at the same time “what in the hell am I supposed to do with another coffee mug!” Currently its jewelry boxes she finds at garage sales for the kids - they each have three chests (I think she forgets that she’s given them chests in the past - or maybe she is just of the belief that kids love boxes to put their stuff). I’m someone who lives in far too much clutter for my taste as it is. And it isn’t just my mother in law - my mother and father show up with stuff. My sister has breast cancer and my father gave me a mother’s day gift of a necklace - one of those breast cancer support thingies (this one is a bell, not a ribbon). Its a very nice necklace (its a $150 necklace, I just looked it up), and I know why he did it, but it so not to my taste. And yet, it comes with all this baggage (the cost, the sister, the intent) - and thus, it gets worn.
