Warning long story about the one and only time I have ever participated in a gift exchange.
A little background to this story first. HR, Accounting, and Purchasing departments suggest a secret Santa luncheon. Anyone who wanted to participate could and if not it was ok. There was a $20 spending limit and since it was a luncheon we would need to pay lunch prior. My best friend works in HR and we both requested that we receive someone else to exchange with as we celebrate Christmas together. This is an important detail to keep in mind while reading my story, best friend and I know everything about each other likes, dislikes, music, etc. in fact if one of us is gone for the day and the other goes to our lunch spots we are immediately asked where are partner in crime is. Finally, I was a single mom to four children at the time.
Now onto the story…
Dec. 1st everyone who wants to participate signs up, pays lunch fee, and draws name. I was super excited after I drew my BFF’s bosses name and couldn’t wait to shop. The luncheon would take place on Dec. 18th. Every time I went to a store I looked for anything that I could add to her gift basket that I was putting together for her. When I was getting her basket put together I was amazed by how many little things that made up her basket and was getting so excited to see her open it.
Dec. 18th arrived and my BFF and I rode together to celebrate with our colleagues. We get to the venue and sit down with all of our colleagues, chatting with each other, and asking what the others were doing for the holidays. Small talk while waiting for our lunches to arrive. Lunch is served and we eat while still chatting with each other. It was a really great lunch with friends. Dishes are cleared and all the beautifully wrapped presents are now brought out to the center of the table. It was an oval table so we started with one end going around and the person whose turn it was their present was given to them to unwrap. Once they unwrapped the gift it went on to the next person and so on so forth. After all gifts had been unwrapped and we all ewwwed and awwwwd over them, we went around the circle and tried to guess who our secret Santa was and if you didn’t know your secret Santa was, they would tell you. I was seated right next to my BFF and we were towards the middle. One by one our colleagues opened these beautifully wrapped gifts and I am amazed at the thoughtfulness that has been put into these gifts. I’m talking homemade wine rack, gift baskets with everything under the sun, and just all around great gifts. That is until my BFF opens her amazing gift and it’s my turn. I stare down at the beautifully wrapped box, barely containing my excitement, and didn’t want to rip the beautiful paper. Once unwrapped I opened the white box and inside was red and green tissue paper which I carefully unwrapped to find, drum roll please, a $25 gift card to a canned food outlet. Yep, if you’re wondering what look was on my face, well let’s just say it was a cross between being constipated, trying to keep it in, and just full out bawling. I composed myself and said thank you to whoever was my secret Santa and that it would come in very handy. Meanwhile in my head I had secretly killed them 10 times. I look at all of my colleagues to see that most had the same dazed look on their face and trying not to feel sorry for me. They knew it was a shit gift and didn’t want to embarrass me at all. I put the gift card back in the box, placed the folded tissue and wrapping paper inside the box, and sat it in front of me. There were three people left who got really great and thoughtful gifts. Now all the gifts have been opened and now time to find out who gave us our gifts. When it got to me all eyes were on me, I had no clue who gave me my very thoughtless gift and was in complete shock when it was an HR person who sits right next to none other than my BFF. This person could have at any point asked my BFF to get ideas on things that I would like. She did not and her reasoning behind her gift was because I could use it on my kids being a single mother. Then she boasts about how much she went over the limit by putting $25 on it. At that comment I wanted to take the gift card and throw it in her face but I didn’t and again thanked her profusely and told her it would come in very handy. On the inside I was spitting nails and my BFF saw it. She pulled her boss aside and told her that we would be about a half an hour late getting back from lunch because she needed to get me calmed down cuz there was definitely a storm a brewing.
As we walked back to my car it was so silent and something new for the both of us as we are always laughing and talking.
We get in my car and I turn it on. As it is warming up I looked over at her and said “what the hell was the gift I just received?” I asked her if that’s all people saw me as, the single mother with four kids that needs help. She asked me to calm down and at that point I break down crying. She asked me to look at it as a gift that could be used and that was all that mattered.
She didn’t know why this woman didn’t ask her what my likes were. I told her I was thankful and asked if she could tell how pissed I was though. She told me that she saw smoke coming out my ears but didn’t think anyone else saw. I told her it was not about the gift at all it was the fact that last night she realized she hadn’t bought a gift for me and had stopped at this particular grocery store, spotted the gift card on the way out and decided that she would get it and to make it a sweeter gift she would get the $25 gift card. So basically I was an after thought for her.
Although I was livid at the time and thought that I would get over it quickly, it took me several years to get over it and now is an inside joke between my BFF and I. Christmas time rolls around and you can hear one us mention that one year I got a $25 gift card for the grocery outlet. Doesn’t hurt nearly as much now because we laugh about it.
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