Oh, do I have a gift story to tell. My friends and I rarely exchange gifts these days, esp. on obligatory gift days (like b’days and xmas). But we all like to give gifts, when we’re inspired.
My friends Toney and Paul we’re always very good at giving me gifts for my b’day, holidays etc, and after two years of friendship I still hadn’t found a gift for them. One day we were out browsing the shops, when they stumbled across this beautiful four-poster bed that was hand carved in India. That’s it! That’s the gift!
It was on sale, and great deal to boot, but this was still quite the purchase. So I asked my best friend Chris, who was also friends of Toney and Paul, if he’d like to go in on the purchase with me. He agreed and soon enough we were off to surprise T&P.
This was a small import shop and they had no means of delivery, so we had to pick it up ourselves. We rented a van and proceeded down to collect the bed.
Well the damn thing didn’t fit, it was too large for the van. We had to strap it to the roof and drive at snails pace to prevent it from falling off. Oh, but the surprises didn’t end there! Now you must understand T&P has this amazing apt in the basement of a what was essentially a three flat. One that we used to fondly refer to ass “the cheesecake factory” (because of it’s slight resemblance to the Cheesecake Factory in downtown Chicago). The downside of all those swooping stucco walls and ceiling was that the ceiling is also very low. So, as you guessed it, the bed did not fit in their bedroom. Not entirely at least, so after removing the casters and the canopy, it fit nicely if not a bit snug and we all agreed it looked better without the canopy anyways.
So there they were with their hearts warmed from our lovely gesture, and a nice new bed …which they enjoyed for about a year. Then they broke up, and things went downhill from there for the bed.
Drama soon ensued over who was gonna get the bed. Chris had, not entirely joking, asked if we did. I was closer with them than he and it was kinda ballsy of me to ask him to pony up part of the cost.
Paul ended up both with custody and moving into the apt block I was living in at the time. The thing about that building is that the elevators are very old and rather small. So yet again the size of the bed raised its beastly head. Paul though, in a rush of inspiration decided the best way to handle the situation was to saw off the posts! He had intended to eventually reattach them but never did. The other thing about the building is not only is the elevator small, but so are the apartments. So the bed really was monstrous, even without the posts! So eventually he replaced it with a sleek number from IKEA, And what remained of the no-poster bed made its way to the dumpster. 
I never got upset with any of this, they were free to do whatever with it, but still to this day I get a chuckle out of tragic fate of our grand gift! I’m not sure if I ever gave him another gift after that.
)