December 3rd, 2007
Anything tokens
At some point in the future, people don’t give each other presents anymore.
It’s seen as impinging upon another person’s right to choose what they own.
At some point in the future, people don’t give each other presents anymore.
It’s seen as impinging upon another person’s right to choose what they own.
Philip J Schadenfreude on 
I prefer cash or vouchers, normally gifts are not well thought out and/or can be slightly offensive.
Vouchers rock, love going to a book store with vouchers!
Give me something meaningful or thoughtful-
or give me money. Don’t give me any crap.
mmm book and cd vouchers are my favourite because id rather have something to read or listen to than a bunch of other things people get me, they will surely last longer.
huh, I thought the word was infringing… but it’s not… they have two different meanings…
Now I feel bad for yelling at people who use Forte wrong
I’m one of those people that has never understood gift tokens. Perhaps for kids you get them book tokens to encourage them to read, but aside from that I feel you might as well give someone the aforementioned universal gift tokens that can be spent anywhere, rather than limiting them to one particular shop or type of item.
Money is seen as a thoughtless gift, whereas gift certificates apparently don’t. I find them to be equally thoughtless, though at least with money I might be able to spend it, but the people who would get me gift certificates would get them for places I’d never shop.
Even better, my fiancee’s mum often gets her gift certificates for stores that don’t exist in the town we live in.
I’d rather get money. My relatives are utterly clueless as to what I like, what I could use, what I need. As a result, they always tended to send stuff I didn’t use and which eventually got re-gifted or tossed…like what a waste of money! I rarely cash in gift certificates, they’re always to places I don’t shop, usually because those stores have nothing I want.
When I’m struggling to make the funds I have stretch to cover the bills and someone sends me a garment that’s almost big enough and something I wouldn’t wear anyhow and to a store I can’t possibly return it to (either several hundred miles or several states over), I find it impossibly irksome. If they’d just sent me the money they just wasted, I’d be able to pay at least part of the bills and would be grateful to them instead of just sitting here and muttering “It’s the thought that counts” twenty times to try to be nice about it.
I stopped sending others gifts many years ago when I realized that I was as clueless about what they wanted as they were about what I wanted. (They’d open it and then get a pained look, which is usually a Major Clue.)
Frankly, I think people would be better off shopping with their nearest and dearest and letting the person pick out their own present, if they must have actual items. Otherwise, send them funds and tell them to buy something for themselves. My aunt used to do that..and I’d send her a nice letter and tell her what she’d given me for Christmas or my birthday. It was a satisfactory arrangement and worked very well.
And, you know, some day history is going to look back on all this Mandatory Gift Giving as a time of financial insanity and wonder what on earth we were doing….
I just want people to know that they can impinge on my right to choose what I own any time, any place. Bring on the pressies!
The way I avoid confusion about gift vouchers at stores that don’t exist in my town is by being extremely explicit in naming which stores I think are appropiate.
What annoys me is my dad, who insists on sending me scratchies for birthdays. I always win a small amount, say $25, but always the scratchy is uncashable in what ever state I am in, due to different lottery companies running the show.
When I am forced to buy some one a present, I go over board and get them something completely useless. LIke incense, voodoo dolls, pieces of art, etc. I hate trying to buy them “useful” items. They can buy that stuff themselves.
Gifts are supposed to be frivolous! I agree with that wholeheartedly. Books, toys, frippery and baubles…come on, that’s half the fun of getting a gift on a holiday!
See, I really, really think that gift cards/certificates/vouchers are the laziest gift, and they show absolutely no desire to get to know the person you’re giving them to. I like the challenge of finding a gift that someone would like, wrapping it creatively, and watching as it’s opened. My grandmother was so pleasantly surprised the year I got her hazelnut coffee for Christmas, for example.
I despair over how my young cousins and sister are growing up, only getting exactly what they ask for, not learning the art of giving gifts. It really doesn’t require emotional closeness to get someone a gift card, honestly. That’s what I despair over–I feel like the advent of gift cards has given people an excuse to not pay attention anymore.
Ah, I know! I really hate it when people ask me what I want for Christmas. I normally respond with a noncommittal shrug and then walk away mumbling to myself about how what I REALLY want is for them to buy me something I love without having to ask for it. But honestly, if they’re not capable of that, then I’d rather just get cash.
I love buying people gifts, too. It’s an amazing feeling when you find something and you KNOW it’s perfect for them. The best gifts are ones that people want, but don’t KNOW that they want. Or they want, but have never really told anyone they wanted them. Or at least didn’t tell you. I love getting presents like that.
Well I don’t mumble to myself; that’s a bit too passive-aggressive for me. Rather, I say something like, ‘I like Mickey Mouse and the colour red.’ Helpful, but not demanding.
My mother used to ask what Disney characters everyone liked way early in the year, and then go off to Company D. Wish I could do that, but I’m not cut out to work for Disney.
I love Disney. That’s another thing that’s disappeared in recent years. Animated Disney movies. Those things are the best. =D
I really only shrug noncommittally to my friends, actually. Because, really, they should know better. Relatives I usually end up giving in and submitting a list. Assuming I find the time to make one.
Oh! Disney’s doing an animated film soon. The Princess and the Frog. I’m a little disappointed at the press coverage so far–they were pressured into changing the name (from ‘The Frog Princess’) because ‘it might be construed as a slur’, and changing her from a chambermaid to a lady because THAT might be construed as a slur…ugh, people are so WHINY. IT IS A GODDAMN STORY. LET IT BE A STORY.
Oh, and the ‘big thing’ is that she’s the first black Disney Princess.
Still. You have to work pretty hard to mess up 1920s New Orleans. WOOT RIVERBOAT JAZZ!
REALLY?!
Oh, yes. I’m excited now. =D
Actually, I guess it’s not *entirely* true that Disney hasn’t been doing ANY animated films. I mean, they came out with Little Mermaid II and Cinderella II & III, and Lady and the Tramp II, and… I’m pretty sure they did some other sequels, as well, but I’ve lost track. I’m really excited that they’re doing a new film, though. =D
That’s really annoying about the stuff being construed as a slur, as well. Sometimes I’m afraid political correctness has really overstepped its bounds. In one of my choirs, we’re singing Good King Wenceslas, a Christian song about a Christian holiday. But our choir director still insisted on changing “Christian men” to “all people,” so as to avoid offending anyone. But, at least in my opinion, anyone who get that offended by the lyrics of a four-hundred-year-old song, that obviously wasn’t designed to be in any way offensive, is altogether much too sensitive.
I don’t give a sh*t what anyone gets me now for x-mas. I got what I want.
Letter from uni arrived. I got accepted.
*runs naked for joy*
(*Joy runs away for fear*)
VIVAT! Good for you, honey!
Congratulations, Ben… that’s great news.
Sweet! Congrats Ben, that’s awesome.