# Gifts from the company catalogue-The Good, The Bad and The Ugly **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072 "2025-12-26T15:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/81 "2025-12-30T19:48:56Z")
Did you get some sort of receipt to show that the contribution was made in your name? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/82 "2025-12-30T19:52:46Z")
A donation made in your name doesn’t give you any benefit on taxes or whatever. I guess it would be proof that they weren’t lying about it but then they could just mock up a receipt if they were lying. The company would get any benefit and already has a bucket of money allocated. They are allowing you to direct a smidgen of it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/83 "2025-12-30T19:54:52Z")
I was thinking more of a receipt from the charity itself with your name on it. A company that would steal the gift would have no trouble faking the receipt. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/84 "2025-12-30T20:01:41Z")
I don’t think there is a standard way of doing it. I give to charity on my own and didn’t take part in workplace charity stuff. When I give to charities on my own you can typically see who gave donations above a certain level on the website or a mailed newsletter (a lot are listed as Anonymous) and some are listed as something like “Jason Smith in loving memory of Harold Brown” or something. Maybe you could check that way. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/85 "2026-03-08T01:04:07Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > A literal chair… With the University branding of course. My dad got one from Harvard (he claims he went there, but we never saw a diploma, just a piece of furniture). We kids called it his “Show-Off Chair”. > [@wolfpup](#): > > Those are actually quite nice looking chairs. And not cheap, either. True, but unless your house is decorated in Early Colonial Republican, the cherry back with black spindles doesn’t quite go with the rest of the “room where the bridge club played, so they could remark on the Hah-vahd Chair”. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/86 "2026-03-08T01:18:02Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > Those are actually quite nice looking chairs. And not cheap, either. > > True, but unless your house is decorated in Early Colonial Republican, the cherry back with black spindles doesn’t quite go with the rest of the “room where the bridge club played, so they could remark on the Hah-vahd Chair”. I would imagine any of those chairs would go very well in a fine oak-paneled library such as one might find in a great English country house! [![](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4Px2eaJUe3zTvhMLCUc4bN.jpg) ](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4Px2eaJUe3zTvhMLCUc4bN.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/87 "2026-03-08T01:22:08Z")
Surely you would keep the chair in your university office? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/88 "2026-03-08T01:23:15Z")
My kid, a Buddhist if anything, once said “I think that heaven will end up being whatever that person believes it to be.” I replied “Well, look for me in the tavern that has a buffet.” But now that I’ve seen that library, I think that’ll be adjacent to the tavern. And Dad’s chair’ll be there… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/89 "2026-03-08T01:34:05Z")
Yes to the library. No to the carpet. We can do better. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/90 "2026-03-08T13:26:41Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Surely you would keep the chair in your university office? I wouldn’t because they look hard and uncomfortable. I have a Herman Miller Aeron in my University office. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/91 "2026-03-08T13:33:41Z")
Yes, but an uncomfortable chair for guests discourages lingering. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/92 "2026-03-08T13:40:15Z")
At the university where I work, they have a catalogue for a few anniversaries, including some prints of artwork “themed by Indigenous artists,” which I take to mean “not produced by Indigenous artists.” We can also choose to have the cost of the gift directed to scholarship funds. I requested it be sent to the TA union’s strike fund, but expect that didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/93 "2026-03-08T13:52:28Z")
During my first career as a Sheriffs Deputy at Christmas time we got a “bonus” of getting to pick from an assortment of rather large ceramic figurines. They were ridiculously ugly and in the shape of old time law enforcement characters and Keystone Cops looking and such. They were donated by some company (a large law firm that represented the county I believe) so no tax payer money directly paid for them. But nobody wanted them. It was embarrassing bringing them home. Every spring when the weather evened out a large group of us would meet at this Deps house in a rural area and shoot those hideous things. It was a real hoot watching them explode into a zillion pieces. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/94 "2026-03-08T14:45:35Z")
My company lets us pick from a catalog. The prizes have changed some, as they’ve changed vendors a few times, but get better after more years of service. Often times they’ll have a company logo on them. One also gets a company pin/zipper pull with the award as well, plus a certificate. Your boss is supposed to present the certificate in a department meeting or some such event. One year my boss wasn’t paying attention and put my certificate in the trash, so it’s all crumpled, before he realized his error (still presented to me). My 20th was during Covid, so I didn’t get it until 3 years later when my boss was cleaning out his office before retiring and came upon it. Some awards I’ve gotten: - 5 years: Swiss Army knife ( with logo) and compass set - 10 years: Luggage set - 15 years: don’t remember - 20 years: necklace with small diamond (given to my daughter) - 25 years: iPad At one time it was possible to pick Home Depot gift cards, and HD would exchange them for cash, but I don’t believe they do that anymore. So one employee, for his 30th, picked a gold ring. If one picks a ring the vendor sends a sizing template, so this employee picked the largest size possible, as he took it someplace and sold it for cash. I work for a gas utility, so a common retirement gift is to turn an old gas meter into a clock or lamp. They’re hideous, but so unusual I kind of hope I get one… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/95 "2026-03-09T20:07:55Z")
My workplace gave gifts for years of service. Five years was a classy pen and pencil set, ten was a clock. But people wanted their own choice, so they switched to gift cards at a local mall. The amounts were pretty good: $50 for 15 years IIRC. After 25 years, you got a chair ($300 retail at the campus store) and a plaque. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/96 "2026-03-09T20:35:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Yes, but an uncomfortable chair for guests discourages lingering. This is the kind of cutting-edge thinking that gets you tenure. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/97 "2026-03-09T20:37:43Z")
Particularly important when the visitor is a student. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/98 "2026-03-09T22:46:09Z")
LOL! That’s another variation of “A Christmas Story” when the family buried the leg lamp. Are any pictures of these monstrosities available online? I remember when “Wheel of Fortune” had statues that people would reluctantly purchase when they were running low on money. The giraffe was fairly popular, probably because it could actually be useful, as a coat rack maybe. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/99 "2026-03-09T22:57:44Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I remember when “Wheel of Fortune” had statues that people would reluctantly purchase when they were running low on money. The giraffe was fairly popular, probably because it could actually be useful, as a coat rack maybe. The frickin’ ceramic dalmatian… [![](https://preview.redd.it/the-iconic-ceramic-dalmation-from-the-early-days-of-wheel-v0-0nhzml2w05gd1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=fe276c4aed805b7663b606b2b70b587628947b79) ](https://preview.redd.it/the-iconic-ceramic-dalmation-from-the-early-days-of-wheel-v0-0nhzml2w05gd1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=fe276c4aed805b7663b606b2b70b587628947b79) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072/100 "2026-03-10T13:47:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What are some of the items offered you or someone you know from the company catalogue in exchange for years of service? I have never in my life received such a thing. I’m lucky if I get business cards with my name and current company. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-from-the-company-catalogue-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/1026072.md?page=6)