Boss: I have got the perfect Christmas present for you.
Me: D’oh!
You’ll be really cool if you don’t feel the need to reciprocate.
But you’ve already given him or her the most valuable gift of all – your time! <chorus swells, an anti-materialistic Christmas lesson is learned, and Tiny Tim breaks his crutch over his knee>
I’m already cool enough. Besides, she’s gone to bat for me more than once.
In that case, what did you get?
The Art of Worldly Wisdon by Baltazar Gracian.
You, my friend, need to learn the art of the Emergency Backup Gift.
This year, I ended up giving that one away before I even handed out the ones that I had brought on purpose.
These are the situations where some careful regifting can really get your butt out of a sling.
I recalled that the book was on sale, so I went back to the bookstore. However, a stash of gifts & cards may not be a bad idea.
I’m not a good regifter.
I now always have a supply of lovely candles, stationery and Barnes & Noble giftcards for just such occasions. I have them on hand because one year my boss presented me with a gift certificate for dinner ($75!) and I didn’t get him anything but a card. Yikes.
Beware of gift cards. I once fell foul of them because due to inattention I didn’t realise they had a limited life.
The same thing has happened to me 3 times in the last two days. We didn’t have a secret santa so I didn’t get anyone anything. My least favorite coworker gave me a beautiful orniment. I’ll pay her back by entering her orders on Friday while I cover the phones.
One of the vice presidents gave me a really pretty candle. I don’t know what to give him. He’s a great guy and my favorite person here. But, he’s rich and I’m poor. I’ve never had to buy a gift for a rich person before and I don’t know what he’d like.
Another coworker just gave me two large cooling racks! I love her! I’m going to make her some peanut butter chip brownies tonight.
I never think to get my coworkers gifts because I have so much to do for my family. It gets overwhelming. I feel guilty for a bit until I realize how much of my time is spent entering orders for the people who give me the gifts. Then, I realize they’re thanking me for saving their butts and I don’t feel guilty anymore. It’s nice to know people appreciate your help.
don’t ask, here in the United States most companies have done away with expiration dates on gift cards. I read awhile back that Congress was drafting a consumer protection bill to make it illegal to have an expiration date on pre-paid gift cards, so I suppose corporate America decided to voluntarily comply before being forced to do so. In the same article, they said some ungodly amount (I’m thinking 40%?) of gift cards went uncashed, so corporations love gift cards, exp. date or not.