Worst gift, 2008

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Cadet said:
My parents tend to be a little off, but this year it didn't affect me too badly. Sure, there were the stockings (rubber bouncy balls, reindeer boxing pens, Legos, an unidentifiable cheap ornament thingy, and of course a toothbrush) which prove they really want grandchildren and will continue to treat us like we're six until they get some. But the best/worst gift went to my brother:

A rain outfit. He walks to work daily, sometimes in inclement weather. Instead of getting him, you know, an umbrella, they bought him a head-to-toe rain outfit to wear over his work clothes. Apparently it is a very nice, very expensive rain outfit, the type that hikers might wear during monsoon season. He does not live anywhere near the equator. This is hysterical.

I have a rain outfit for when I am coaching the track team. It is the greatest thing in the world. Also come in handy during the monsoon in September.
 
UPS' failed systems. I was supposed to receive my digital camera (replacing the one that died on my last work trip) the 24th, but they claimed a BS weather excuse. Now it's on the Eastside and in some effing warehouse where I can't go pick it up but it's not on a truck today and they don't know when it will get on one to be delivered.

Oh, and I leave again Sunday for my next trip.

Eff UPS.
 
buckweaver said:
Along the same lines, the back spasm after lunch/Christmas dinner that had me bedridden so badly that I had to call in to work yesterday. Oh, that was not fun.

Not a spasm, but my back has been similarly painful lately. I tweaked it shoveling last weekend.
 
Damn, FT. Just damn.

Not exactly a horrible gift because any book with tornado and lightning pictures is OK in my book, but I specifically asked for the NEW Extreme Weather book and instead got an old library-used, previous incarnation of a book with the same name.

I try to be specific ... ::)
 
Angola! said:
because of some miscommunication i got 2 band of brothers dvds.

Ms. Slappy got two Bones, Third Season... One I bought for her mother to give to her, the other was from her SIL...
 
forever_town said:
Losing my job and then having my employer contest unemployment benefits was enough of a non-gift.

Better days ahead, f_t. Keep the faith. And as for your previous employers ... gently, with a rusty chainsaw. (I think that's already been mentioned.)

Me? No complaints.
 
We draw names for the adults (and everybody buys for all the kids) in my immediate family. So my two sisters draw me and my brother and they decide to get us both the same thing ... a miniature leg lamp from "A Christmas Story." I like the movie, but didn't really need the leg lamp to prove it!

Needless to say my reaction was not the same as the old man's in the movie. WTF do I do with this thing? I don't have a bachelor pad ... I'm a 30-something with a wife and two kids ... and the wife wasn't amused either. So this thing goes in a closet or something I suppose. I figured with the sister who had my name, I could count on the usual Border's gift card ... but no, it's a ****ing leg lamp!!!

F_T ... sorry to hear about your situation. You can and definitely should fight for the unemployment. As I recommended to another poster recently, sans an income now, you can sometimes get free legal help to hit back at your former employer. If you feel you're really entitled to it, I say fight it man.
 
Only bad gift was a re-gifted bottle of Beringer White Zinfandel. There's a story there, one of me spending one Thanksgiving at my sister's house somehow downing about four bottles of this dreck. Hilarity ensued. My nieces are still laughing ...
 
schiezainc said:
My sister bought me four DVDs and while normally that would have been great, the selection of movies was terrible.

1.) Candy Strippers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463935/)
2.) Where the Truth Lies (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373450/)
3.) The Dark (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411267/)

and, as a joke gift "I <3 Tx Girls" which she lovingly described as "Fat girl porn".

I asked her why she got me fat girl porn and she responded: "Fat girls need love too."
backtop_nextfriday.jpg


Craig: "We're kin and all, but don't be hooking me up with the LITTLE sister that's bigger than the BIG sister."

Day-Day "Fat girls need love, too, Craig!"
 
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rico_the_redneck said:
We draw names for the adults (and everybody buys for all the kids) in my immediate family. So my two sisters draw me and my brother and they decide to get us both the same thing ... a miniature leg lamp from "A Christmas Story." I like the movie, but didn't really need the leg lamp to prove it!

Needless to say my reaction was not the same as the old man's in the movie. WTF do I do with this thing? I don't have a bachelor pad ... I'm a 30-something with a wife and two kids ... and the wife wasn't amused either. So this thing goes in a closet or something I suppose. I figured with the sister who had my name, I could count on the usual Border's gift card ... but no, it's a ****ing leg lamp!!!

F_T ... sorry to hear about your situation. You can and definitely should fight for the unemployment. As I recommended to another poster recently, sans an income now, you can sometimes get free legal help to hit back at your former employer. If you feel you're really entitled to it, I say fight it man.

Cousin in laws bought Uncle in Law the big leg lamp, but they did it right. They got ahold of a big wooden crate and put it out in the garage and painted "FRAGILE" on it (You know, "Ooo, must be Italian"). He got a huge kick out of it.
 
My brother got me a very nice sweatshirt. Unfortunately, it's the same sweatshirt he got me last year.

Also, my uncle thought my brother and I needed an outhouse santa which farts and vibrates when the button is pushed. It's good for ****s and giggles, I suppose.
 
doubledown68 said:
My brother got me a very nice sweatshirt. Unfortunately, it's the same sweatshirt he got me last year.

Hilarious.

How does THAT happen? Did he forget? Was the gift meant for someone else?
 
This was both an awful gift and a decent pick. ...

For years, I've been handing my favorite pair of pants to the somewhat welcoming arms of my grandma, ex-girlfriend and sister, who promised to sew the holes and perform transplant surgery. My ex sewed about an eight-inch hole on the butt right before college graduation, and my grandma used another pair of pants -- Salvation Army special -- and cut strips to patch my favorites.

Two years ago, though, they got pretty ragged. There were holes outside and in each front pocket, the bottoms were completely frayed, there were holes in the crotch, the rear -- not on the already-sewed part; she's good at it -- back pockets, thighs, etc. So they sat on grandma's sewing machine for about a year. She gave them to me last Festivus to give to the ex. She put them in her closet and thought about ditching them, but instead left them there until my sister asked for them. The exchange was filled with high hopes; sewing is her new hobby, and she's quite good, too. It'd been about six months since, and I really had forgotten about them. Until last night.

Everyone knew what I was getting except for me. I opened a couple books from my sister and brother-in-law, so I wasn't expecting anything else. But she brought over this pretty big box, and everyone watched as I slowly opened it. When I saw the insides, I almost cried -- and not in a good way. I saw one pocket, and then another. Out of the box, I pulled a blanket made from my cargo pants -- all six pockets and a bunch of the seems.

It really is nice. But I was a little heart-broken. It's a good way to remember them, I suppose. She could have thrown them out; they all could have and wanted to do so. My first girlfriend threw away a pair of pants she'd sewn repeatedly, and that was a big deal to me. (Not enough to get me to learn to sew, however.) My brother-in-law told me, "(My sister) wanted me to make the first cut, and I told her, 'I want nothing to do with that gift. You're on your own.'" I like him.
 
Trey Beamon said:
doubledown68 said:
My brother got me a very nice sweatshirt. Unfortunately, it's the same sweatshirt he got me last year.

Hilarious.

How does THAT happen? Did he forget? Was the gift meant for someone else?
He says he doesn't remember. He's 26... engaged, but still living at home. Doesn't plan to move until he ties the knot. Maybe that makes the picture clearer?

It isn't the EXACT same sweatshirt. Same color and logo, sure. But nike moved the swoosh from the collar to the top of the hoodie pocket.
 
mike311gd said:
This was both an awful gift and a decent pick. ...

For years, I've been handing my favorite pair of pants to the somewhat welcoming arms of my grandma, ex-girlfriend and sister, who promised to sew the holes and perform transplant surgery. My ex sewed about an eight-inch hole on the butt right before college graduation, and my grandma used another pair of pants -- Salvation Army special -- and cut strips to patch my favorites.

Two years ago, though, they got pretty ragged. There were holes outside and in each front pocket, the bottoms were completely frayed, there were holes in the crotch, the rear -- not on the already-sewed part; she's good at it -- back pockets, thighs, etc. So they sat on grandma's sewing machine for about a year. She gave them to me last Festivus to give to the ex. She put them in her closet and thought about ditching them, but instead left them there until my sister asked for them. The exchange was filled with high hopes; sewing is her new hobby, and she's quite good, too. It'd been about six months since, and I really had forgotten about them. Until last night.

Everyone knew what I was getting except for me. I opened a couple books from my sister and brother-in-law, so I wasn't expecting anything else. But she brought over this pretty big box, and everyone watched as I slowly opened it. When I saw the insides, I almost cried -- and not in a good way. I saw one pocket, and then another. Out of the box, I pulled a blanket made from my cargo pants -- all six pockets and a bunch of the seems.

It really is nice. But I was a little heart-broken. It's a good way to remember them, I suppose. She could have thrown them out; they all could have and wanted to do so. My first girlfriend threw away a pair of pants she'd sewn repeatedly, and that was a big deal to me. (Not enough to get me to learn to sew, however.) My brother-in-law told me, "(My sister) wanted me to make the first cut, and I told her, 'I want nothing to do with that gift. You're on your own.'" I like him.

I can see why you're conflicted about it.

Still, that's a pretty cool (and unique) gift.
 
I know. I can't blame her. I'll always have them, and it was a good laugh -- although a bit after the incident.
 
Mourn the loss of the pants for a day, then love the blanket for many, many years to come.
 
KG said:
Mourn the loss of the pants for a day, then love the blanket for many, many years to come.

Pretty much. They were my concert pants, my bar pants, my lucky pants, my I-look-coolest-with-these-on-pants and my favorite pants. Now I've got a favorite blanket, I suppose.

It was a cool gift.

And, F_T: No hole is big enough for me to ditch a pair of pants. There's always a second, third, fourth or fifth life.
 

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