The Gift: WTF, I Didn't Want This.
It Only Took a Few Minutes!
So many smiling faces. The laughter, the joy. Today was a good day, but who's going to clean up this mess! It's everywhere!
Sure sweety, I can pull the bow out of your hair. Hold still...
Fantastic, everyone enjoys their gifts. What's this though? A few things, sitting around. They said thank you, generically. Okay, we all know what that means. There's a strong chance a few of these things might be going back to the store.
Thirteen Years of Torture
This is just a friendly reminder. I'll provide a link below with more information if you're interested.
I worked in retail for thirteen years. I know what happens to the majority of the unwanted gifts. Do your best to keep the packages in pristine shape. If whatever it is was a bad idea, be honest, and don't even open the package.
If it wasn't perfect for you, taking it back to the store means it's not perfect for them now either. Much of this stuff will go straight into the garbage. Don't lie and say it's defective. They will not test it, they will take your word for it and throw it out. In my thirteen years I witnessed tons of perfectly fine merchandise hit the compactor and eventually the land fill. It breaks my heart to see this. We all know there are people in this world going without.
Other Options
Sell your unwanted gifts to someone who will buy them. Give them away. Donate them. Damn, give it to someone next Christmas, I don't care. Just do whatever you can to keep it out of the landfill.
Nobody here is perfect. Buying gifts is not easy! Acting like a spoiled brat (pardon my tone) because you did not get what you wanted, that attitude, that's what should be going in the garbage. The merchandise is still good even if it isn't your thing.
Please, just be honest and do what feels right.
I wrote this article over two months ago. I get a little deeper into the truth and was proud for sharing this story. It's an old article, I'm not sharing it for rewards. If you have time, take a moment to have a look. Thank you.
Tis the Season: Blowing the Whistle on the Big Blue Box
Merry Christmas from my family to yours!
Merry Christmas @nonameslefttouse I hope you had a wonderful day! Hope you received what you wanted...lol...I had such a miserable Christmas time...
I was lucky enough to be broke! I made it known well in advance. People still insisted they'd like to get me something and asked what I'd like. I said socks. I have a lot of socks now. I like socks! Socks are awesome. I don't drink very much, but I did have a few drinks with family last night and probably will again today. My kids are happy, I'm happy and it's just another regular, normal day.
Merry Christmas @giantbear!
Burglars poisoned my dog...ultimately killing him. While we were at the vet the bastards simply walked into my house and stole my laptop and tablet...also other phones and tablets and laptops in the house...everyone is safe though...
Oh @giantbear I'm so sorry to hear about that. Inconvenient and unpleasant as it is to have your gear stolen, they can be replaced. But heartbreaking to hear about your dog. Hugs xx
Hi @kiwideb thank you...so unneccesary but we will get through this. Hope you had a lovely Christmas...xx
Wow... that's not good news at all. I'm really sorry to hear this. Nobody in this life deserves that. Everyone is safe, so that's a good thing. There's always the bright side, though at times it's a little dim. Stay focused on it even if you have to squint hard to see it. These things have a fancy way of making people stronger. Be a fighter and kick it's ass.
Believe me we are prepared if they try to come back. I will not just kick their ass's!
"You gotta do what you gotta do." People who steal like that are usually cowards though. Probably never see them again, which is a good thing.
Merry Christmas my friend, I read Blowing the Whistle a while back, great story :)
Merry Christmas to you too and thanks for reading that one. It's a bit sloppy, I'm still an amateur at times, but it does drive the point home. I'm glad you liked it.
I didn't think it was sloppy, maybe if it was an essay but that kind of story is better a little gritty :)
Thanks for voting on my post, that's probably the most you'll ever see of my face again LOL. I consider it my verification since I opted not to do that ;)
The one night I read a bunch of your old stuff (upvote that shit night haha!) I noticed we're about the same age with a daughter the same age. She's the lovely brunette in the pics :)
I have two daughters who double as my best friends as well. I doubt I'll ever post photos of them on here. I don't even like having mine up. The verification thing seems pointless to me. There's only one of me, I make it obvious enough and can prove myself if I ever really needed to. People hold up the paper and take a pose. Someone like me can easily erase what is written on the paper and change it to say something else. My security trick is to take 10-15 selfies at once which are all slightly different. Then I'll share one out of the pile and have the rest to prove it's me.
I hear you. I debated, but she's on every social media site there is, and those are attached to her name. I have a daughter and 13 yr old son -who is cresting five foot ten, and a size fifteen shoe, and he's not gangly he's a tank, it's awesome.
People frown on being friends with your kids, I think that's ridiculous. I was lucky enough to be the vessel that brought them here, to keep them warm and safe, to tell them everything I know and then explain there's a shitload I don't, and one thing I definitely do know is that I don't own them, they are their own beings. I encourage them to be them, to find what makes them happy and go for it. There are no limitations except self-imposed limitations.
My husband's a bit older so I also have two step-sons who are more like my kid brothers and definitely two of my closest friends. (The twins and dennis the menace belong to one of them ;)
You do make it obvious enough LOL, one of a kind for sure (in the best way, unique is always good) I don't think anyone would question you unless they're just that type of asshole.
I'm probably going to post a much less family friendly poem in a little bit, I think you'll enjoy it.
We have a Secret Santa kind of game that we play in our family, which has transformed the gift giving experience. We still give to the children but all the adults put in 2 x $20 presents. There's usually somewhere between 15 & 20 of us. We go round the circle and the first person picks something. Each subsequent person can either take something that's already been opened, or pick something from the middle. Then we go round the circle the other way. Afterwards there are usually some swaps. Most people are happy with at least one of their picks,it's cheaper, and the whole thing is a good laugh. Out of the 4 things @sift666 & I got, there's only one this year that we won't use, and it will be easy to give away.
Cash or reloadable cards, that's my usual trick. The kids like the cards because they're in the online world sometimes more than the real one. As for everyone else, leave it up to me to buy the alcohol. I like giving everyone hangovers I guess. I used to be a real heavy drinker and many still think that's the case. They'll assume I'll arrive fully stocked and I did not disappoint. I'm actually quite lucky. My kids took after me. The big shiny trinkets are not important to us. I never forced this on them but they probably did pick up on a few of my comments over the years. I was "rich" once upon a time. I think they associate those days with the times I was never around, always working. We all keep things simple. Christmas is quite easy around here and the good times always feel genuine.
I usually give cash to the older kids but this year they got vouchers - book tokens for the one starting uni this year, to help with his textbooks, clothing vouchers for the girls. My 6 year old great nephew got funny books cos his mum says he needs to read more.
I read your other story too and I feel your pain! In my story about my grandmother a few months ago I talk about how her example has made me hate waste. It's not quite as bad in NZ. Most shops put food about to expire on special. Anything with damaged packaging goes on sale too. I got a weights bench much cheaper cos it was the display model and that was all they had left. We got a water blaster cheap cos there was no packaging.
In Wellington there is an organisation called Kaibosh that collects unused foods from places like restaurants and distributes it to social service organisations. https://www.kaibosh.org.nz/
This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the second half of Dec 25. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $7.04 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Dec 25 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.
If the gift is one of these brands:
https://steemit.com/shopping/@apertus-cogitari/tech-brands-that-progressive-buyers-should-avoid-some-gifts-take-away-more-than-they-give
then indeed it should go back to the store. Have no sympathy for stores selling unethical brands.
To be honest, it's hard to find anything these days that doesn't have a dark side.