# Hey, Strangers: We're Havin' A Baby! Buy Us Some Stuff! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2005, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699 "2005-08-12T06:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/41 "2005-08-14T14:28:49Z")
> [@Manda JO](#): > > Are you sure that Jennifer and Steve actually put up the sign? It could be that they have an incredibly rude friend/coworker. Which would be very awkward for them! Good point… maybe it was done as a joke, and Jen & Steve are registered at Fleet Farm now… ---
**Author:** ![EnginNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@EnginNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnginNerd)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/42 "2005-08-14T20:14:36Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > And the less said about registering for kids’ birthday parties, the better :eek: People actually do this??? So how would one go about requesting “no gifts please” without it looking like a thinly masked ploy for cash gifts? I’m all about not having people supply me with stuff I don’t really need when I get married (a long ways out, and who knows what the future misses will think since I probably haven’t even met her yet, but anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/43 "2005-08-14T20:19:19Z")
> [@EnginNerd](#): > > So how would one go about requesting “no gifts please” without it looking like a thinly masked ploy for cash gifts? I’m all about not having people supply me with stuff I don’t really need when I get married (a long ways out, and who knows what the future misses will think since I probably haven’t even met her yet, but anyway). Most people will understand “Best Wishes Only” to mean no gifts are expected. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/44 "2005-08-16T16:53:40Z")
Wow, a new low in taste was reached today! In everyone’s mailbox was a slip of paper that said, “No time to shop? See (person) to contribute to a gift!” on one side, with the gift registry URLs on the other side. If this wasn’t so appalling that it’s funny, I’d be seriously bummed about the decline of manners in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/45 "2005-08-16T17:17:31Z")
Reading things like this make me glad I work with only two people: a gay man and a widow in her 60’s. So do you think the slip of paper came from the mom-to-be? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/46 "2005-08-16T17:27:53Z")
I don’t know for sure who put up the sign or put the slips in our mailboxes. But the person for whose benefit this gimme-fest is being held has an office right across from the mail room, and she knows the sign is up in multiple locations. If she thought it was in bad taste, she would certainly have objected by now, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/47 "2005-08-16T18:47:32Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Wow, a new low in taste was reached today! In everyone’s mailbox was a slip of paper that said, “No time to shop? See (person) to contribute to a gift!” on one side, with the gift registry URLs on the other side. > > If this wasn’t so appalling that it’s funny, I’d be seriously bummed about the decline of manners in the world. If that’s the case, I’d take it to HR. There’s a difference between a passive sign and a note put into a company mailbox demanding gifts, or contributions toward a gift. The former is tacky, the second is just extortion. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/48 "2005-08-16T19:19:35Z")
Didn’t Dilbert have a “still single shower” to get something back from the people had had been guilted into buying stuff for? I think he was registered at Electron Hut. ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699/49 "2005-08-16T20:52:39Z")
My suggestion: Go to shower, load up your plate with as much “party food” as possible, say congrats (best wishes, whatever), leave. looks like a sign saying “Free Food” to me. Mmmmmm… Foooooood… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-strangers-were-havin-a-baby-buy-us-some-stuff/316699.md?page=2)