It doesn’t matter how sincere it is
Nor how heart got the spirit.
Sentiment will not endear it.
What’s important is… the price!
That low, really?!
this certainly is not reflective of my family’s style of christmas giving or birthday giving either. we all invest some thought into appropriate gifts, even for more casual gifting-- the gifts for the other teachers on my team are selected or made for their personal appeal, like a small stuffed skunk for one teacher who has an appreciation for the smell of skunks or a wedgwood ornament for another who collects ornaments and loves the color blue. for my wife’s birthday this year i took her 5 hours away to another state so she could milk a cow, something she has longed to do for decades. the rest of my family goes to similar lengths. in 22 years together i can’t recall a single gift that my wife or i, one of my parents or siblings, or one of my children have given that has ever been returned or regifted.
Now that it’s established that this is a thing, I can only hope there’s a name for it.
“Marijuana enthusiast.”
I think this is largely the obligatory socially enforced gifting that brings on the junk or thoughtless gift.
As a non-xmas observing familial/affiliation group person I have felt social backlash because I wouldn’t honor other people’s religious holiday by gifting to them, sometimes even being given an unwanted gift just to somehow push a greater obligation and shaming onto me.
This was much more a problem in Wisconsin than in the Pacific Northwest.
You have to pay attention to someone, care about them, know them well enough to give them something they would actually enjoy. If you can’t do that, you’re either not close enough to be gift-giving in the first place, or you’re one of my relatives.
As long as it was not deposited a few hours prior to sniffing, I don’t mind the smell (our COO also has also said that he doesn’t mind it).
@navarro, for next year, Jelly Belly makes skunk flavored jelly beans… 
Sorry, I’ll try harder next time.
Apparently there’s a recessive gene (mutation?) regarding skunk smell. I have it, as does at least one of my children (we don’t run into recently sprayed locations often enough to know for everyone yet).
It’s great: skunks smell like earthy perfume to me. Nicer than most actual perfumes, honestly.
Quite true. Many perfumes make me gag (or eyes water) – skunk does not.
i’m with you. at an appropriate distance the scent of skunk has a muskiness along with a floral element that makes it, if not a delight, at least tolerable.
Here’s mine: http://aqfl.net/node/11251
This year I’m making a fairly big gamble - I’m not giving gifts to anyone over 15 years of age. For adults, food or shared experiences are great and I will be spending plenty of time with friends and family over the next couple of weeks. It’s not that I don’t care enough to give stuff to people, but where each person in my family gives gifts to each other person, it takes quite a bit of time and actually reduces the time we could spend just enjoying each other’s company. We’ve tried some kind of secret Santa type system, but people still feel like they should buy something little for the others. For the last few years I’ve asked people not to get me anything, and this year I’ve warned them that I’m not going to buy or make them anything either. Sometimes you just have to be the change you want to see in the world.
This is a rather silly analysis. The purpose of gift giving is not to provide utility in the object itself, but to build a particular connection which has its own value. Considering that most people find jobs through friends or relatives, having friends and relatives can be a lot more valuable than an idiotic belt flashlight kit or what-is-it pillow. In a nation with a $10^13+ GDP, pissing off $10^11+ on interpersonal connections is getting away cheap. Look at what we waste on executive pay or financial “services”. We’d do much better with more and nicer personalized tee shirts.
I haven’t gotten quite there yet, but it is approaching. It isn’t that I dislike giving gifts, I give gifts to friends and family all year round. I just dislike the obligation and “size” outweighing the thought and intent. One year my wife and I gave friends and family original hand crafted art. We quickly learned who appreciated thoughtful gifts as opposed to flat screen TVs.
As for me I beg to not receive presents. And it isnt because i want to deprive the giver of the satisfaction of gifting.
A card with a note or poem? Awesome!! Spend some time making cookies together? Perfect, let’s get together now. (I am not being facetious about this one) A slideshow of your last vacation? Count. Me. In. Just please don’t give me any material thing (well, unless it’s jerky or peanut brittle).
Most of my relatives are now at the age where accumulating stuff is not so fun any more; they’re downsizing, and giving them more junk doesn’t help. I give consumables: nuts, gourmet coffee, candy, homemade jam. Friends I try to find items they don’t want to regift or donate to charity, otherwise, it’s more consumables, including gift cards.
Tell me about it, I sold my watch to buy her a comb for her hair.
