# MEAN Christmas presents **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779 "2011-12-19T23:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/21 "2011-12-20T15:45:53Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Did you read the OP? This was a deliberate insult to the person. Even the OP seems to have participated in this childish behavior by speculating on the loss of tp. I suspect this woman may have taken a roll once because she needed one and knew she didn’t have time to stop on the way home. Then the office gossips start their whispering campaign, and next thing you know she’s a serial tp thief. Meanwhile one of the gossips continues to steal the stuff knowing this poor woman gets the blame. How do you know _any_ of this? Personally, I’ll take the word of the OP, _who was there_, over your pulled-it-out-of-my-ass speculation and fabrication. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/22 "2011-12-20T15:47:32Z")
I laughed - I guess that makes me a meanie too. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/23 "2011-12-20T15:48:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If you want to throw rocks, do it openly. If she wants to take TP because she doesn’t have time to stop, do it openly. She can tell the boss what she’s doing and ask him to take the cost out of her paycheck or bonus. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/24 "2011-12-20T16:13:09Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > If she wants to take TP because she doesn’t have time to stop, do it openly. She can tell the boss what she’s doing and ask him to take the cost out of her paycheck or bonus. Yep. I have a zero tolerance for theft policy. Steal from me and you are fired. I have given employees cash in their time of need; theft is something I would never tolerate. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/25 "2011-12-20T16:17:50Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > How do you know _any_ of this? > > Personally, I’ll take the word of the OP, _who was there_, over your pulled-it-out-of-my-ass speculation and fabrication. The OP was there, and said it wasn’t a joke, it was mean. The background story is irrelevant. > [@lieu](#): > > If she wants to take TP because she doesn’t have time to stop, do it openly. She can tell the boss what she’s doing and ask him to take the cost out of her paycheck or bonus. How do you know she didn’t do that? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/26 "2011-12-20T16:24:52Z")
Because that’s a completely ridiculous idea? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/27 "2011-12-20T16:33:50Z")
I will always remember the year my great grandmother gave me and my brother a clothes hamper. “Now you won’t be leaving your clothes all over the place!” she said. I don’t think she meant it as mean as it came out, but we were just littl’uns, and we’d been joyously speculating on what was in the _big_ present… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/28 "2011-12-20T16:34:12Z")
No need to be so defensive about being your office’s TP thief, **TriPolar** ; even your handle choice betrays you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/29 "2011-12-20T16:41:41Z")
A little old lady brought a gift one year for one of my employees. It was a large box, beautifully wrapped. The woman it was meant for had the day off, so LOL left the package and went on her way, leaving us all puzzled. Next day, we all watched her open her gift. The box was filled with HoHos, DingDongs, Twinkies, etc. The recipient was a _very_ large woman. She began crying and went home for the day. The LOL meant well, it turns out. Someone called her and gently tried to find out why she did something so cruel. Turns out she just thought someone that large must love snack cakes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/30 "2011-12-20T16:44:13Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > No need to be so defensive about being your office’s TP thief, **TriPolar** ; even your handle choice betrays you. 😉 See, now that’s funny. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/31 "2011-12-20T16:47:14Z")
One year (I was probably 5 or 6) my grandmother gave my girl cousins some kind of toy they were all happy about. I unwrapped mine to find… a toy carpet sweeper. When I looked at her with the WTF face, she all but shouted, “That’s because your mother’s always complaining about the messes you make that she has to clean up!” Nothing like crushing disappointment and humiliation in front of the whole family. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/32 "2011-12-20T16:56:49Z")
When my Mother in Law had a stroke, we bought a house and brought her to live with us, and took on caregiving for someone fully bedridden and who outweighed me by my body weight. I understand it’s challenging to get her a gift. But boxes and boxes of chocolates? Really? Are you kidding me? The next three weeks was a continuous battle as she just wanted chocolates all day, every day. Sheesh. And then her daughter gave her a lovely blouse. It will need to be severely altered (I can do that!), just so we can sort of, get it on. But when, exactly am I going to feel it’s necessary to wrestle her, at some discomfort into this garment, and for who’s pleasure. Tons of work for me, plenty of discomfort for her, for why? I didn’t alter it, and I never put it on her. And I never explained. They weren’t meant to be mean, but they kind of were. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/33 "2011-12-20T17:23:21Z")
The OP reminds me of a few random things. That time I was on the job out in the middle of nowhere and had to buy thousands of dollars worth of shit on my own credit card to get things done that had to be done right fricking now. Then the powers that be couldn’t figure out exactly what accounting process would be needed to reimburse me. I had to threaten to steal thousands of dollars worth of toilet paper, pens, and pencils 🙂 Then there was the time my grandfather got a Christmas gift that he opened among the large family gathering. It wasn’t the gift so much as the box it was in (wrapped in christmas wrapping of course). The box containing the random trinket gift was a Summer’s Eve douche cardboard box. Hey, I was little kid and needed a damn box to put that gift in damnit. What did I know? The fact gramps could in fact be a douchebag at times just added to the hilarity. Back to the OP. Yeah, that TP gift was mean. Even if she actually is the TP bandit a Christmas party ain’t the time to call her out on it. Of course it is a bit better than using the Christmas party as the time to announce who is getting fired/layed off (I am pretty sure I’ve read some story about that here on the Dope). ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/34 "2011-12-20T17:36:03Z")
My husband and his sister are into “gag gifts”, which are either something really silly–like the sweater with a Cleveland Browns logo knitted into it that his sister gave him–or intended to ramp up speculation before the gift is given. His sister wrapped up a giant can of soup once, for instance. I guess it’s all in good fun, but they did this stuff to each other as kids. It sounds kinda mean, to me. But I’m an only child. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/35 "2011-12-20T17:51:57Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > Nothing like crushing disappointment and humiliation in front of the whole family. And isn’t that what the holiday season and families are all about? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/36 "2011-12-20T18:01:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The OP was there, and said it wasn’t a joke, it was mean. The background story is irrelevant. Ok, it’s time to come clean. You are actually the toilet-paper lady, right? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/37 "2011-12-20T18:04:29Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > I think the meanest gift is those fake lottery tickets. $10k or whatever could really solve someone’s problems and to give that hope and sense of possibility for 30 seconds before they read the fine print isn’t just mean but is downright heartless and cruel. Not the slightest bit funny. Agreed. Fake lottery tickets are an abomination on the face of the earth. > [@Ruken](#): > > \ > > I suppose there is always the cliche of a man getting his wife a mop or some other cleaning supply. I asked my husband for a file cabinet for Christmas this year - I want to do some serious filing. 🙂 I think the OP is kind of funny, too, and I have almost zero tolerance for mean practical jokes. She brought it on herself by stealing toilet paper from work (which, it seems we are almost agreed on, is not cool). The meanest Christmas present - remember [this video from a while ago?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK4zCSXA9co) It’s the kid who thought he was getting an XBox, and his asshole family is yukking it up while he is just about in tears, he’s so disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/38 "2011-12-20T18:33:10Z")
> [@limegreen](#): > > In my junior high homeroom, I usually have a white elephant sort of gift exchange – 5 bucks or so, and everyone usually gets candy or dollar store trinkets. One boy, who was and is an insufferable annoyance, brought one used sock, neatly wrapped. The kid who got it was not amused, and neither was I. The sock was returned to the owner – I would have loved to have given him a swift kick in the butt along with it, and I gave the poor recipient a cool toy from my desk. Annoyance boy is a senior this year, and he had to have a parent/teacher conference with the principal, parents, and all teachers simply because he is so obnoxious, no one likes him. Pretty sad, when even your parents think you’re an ass. You do know that a White Elephant gift exchange, by definition, includes one joke gift, like a used sock, don’t you? I wouldn’t do a White Elephant exchange in a school situation- a secret santa or whatever would be much more appropriate. —Alice, who was once burned by a White Elephant exchange as a kid and was extremely embarrassed and pissed about it— ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/39 "2011-12-20T18:48:04Z")
never mind, wrong post ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779/40 "2011-12-20T19:00:44Z")
My husband’s former workplace used to do one of those “Yankee Trader” gift exchanges, where you randomly assign the order of opening of gifts, and you can choose to steal the already-opened gift of someone who went before you and make them open a new one. Our MO for these was to always hide a nice gift inside something awful. One year we put a DVD inside of a cheap plastic shower curtain. Another year we put a gift card inside a Queer Eye For The Straight Guy calendar (this was a tech company where the vast majority of the gift-openers were straight male dorks). The last year was the best. We’d gotten a hideous, frightening, fiber-optic angel doll as a wedding present from an elderly member of my husband’s family. It was probably the biggest box at the exchange, and we hid a Home Depot gift card in it. The guy who got it actually stole it from the person who originally opened it because he thought his daughter would like it. We always told people about the gift card afterwards just to make sure they didn’t accidentally throw it out, so it’s not totally mean, but I always loved the WTF looks on people’s faces when they opened what appeared to be a terrible gift. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mean-christmas-presents/606779.md?page=3)