With lottery tickets, you’re screwed (vis-á-vis the rules of the exchange) either way.
Your giftee will probably end up with something worth ZERO dollars … (too low of a value for the exchange)
OR… it’s the present worth MILLIONS*!* (too high of a value for the exchange)
It’s Shrödinger’s Gift Box!
Stealing that. At least I get SOMETHING decent out of the grab bag this year.
Cute, but not true: at the moment of giving, it is worth $10 or whatever. The fact that the recipient will ‘devalue’ it shortly is irrelevant.
One might as well complain that the gift of chocolate or booze is worthless since it will be once the recipient consumes it. 
You suck so fucking much.
I, too, will no longer do the office grabbag. I work part time and the woman who had me as a giftee make way more money than me. I found out what the person that I picked liked and got him just that: a gift card, chocolates and coffee. What did I get??? An old ripped up bag with the old gift tag still on it with two pieces of chocolate, a dish towel and a broken ornament. Yes, I said a BROKEN ornament. The gift amount was supposed to be $30 so I’m guessing in total mine was about half that. I’m so sick of being considerate and getting people what they like and I get junk in return.
Why? Because I took her at her word and thought that maybe there was a co-worker that gave an inappropriate gift without realizing it? Was her story so out of the ordinary that it could only be taken as some sort of joke? I didn’t think so because I’ve seen things like that happen in real life, and the :mad: at the end of her post indicated to me that she was upset. I’m sorry if my misreading of the situation upset you.
Wait, what? Because he got whooshed? Because to tell the truth, rachellogram’s post whooshed me too.
Wait, is this ANOTHER whoosh?
It’s whooshes all the way down!
Not upset. You just suck is all.
The Hubby just did this at work, and turned over gift selection to me. Limit was $15, and I chose this…
I have you all beat.
In my first office, there was a gift exchange, i can’t remember what the limit was, but I’m guessing $10.
Everyone that id participating draws a name out of a hat and that’s who you buy for. The bozo that got me was one strange guy. I hardly knew him.
However, imagine my surprise when I opened up my “gift” in front of the entire office, and i found a large glass mayo jar. Clean and empty (thank god), but he used one of those cheap label makers (that were popular 25 years ago that print one letter at a time by turning a dial to the correct letter and squeezing the trigger) to put a label on it.
The label said “Booger Jar”
He laughed and laughed, and everyone else just stood there with “WTF” written on their faces.
So i spent $10 on some gift I would have kept for myself, and in return, some bozo gives me a home-made “booger jar”.
Just about everyone in the office came up and apologized after the party was over, and I was told this guy was a bit dysfunctional. Ya think?
I put it in the trash as i walked back to my desk. I think he got the hint, although I am positive he didn’t care.
I’ve got even you beat, but in a better way. I have never worked for any company that has ever done any sort of ‘gift exchange’. I’ve never had to deal with any of the shit in this thread. Get a gift for the coworkers you are friends with, or not if you don’t like them. I’ve occasionally given gifts that were appreciated, I’ve occasionally gotten gifts that were also appreciated, but there was none of the ‘mandatory for someone you don’t know’ bullshit. No awkwardness, no problems… 
That’s just…well…I don’t know what the word is. “Nuts” doesn’t quite do it.