A woman has been left reeling after she received a ‘disgusting’ Secret Santa gift by a work colleague that has since gotten management involved.
Shopping for gifts for our work colleagues for the office Secret Santa at Christmas can be difficult if you’re not particularly close with the person whose name is pulled out of the hat.
In fact, you might be tempted to regift some unwanted presents you’ve received before.
However, there are some things most of us know are general no-gos when it comes to dishing out Christmas gifts – or, you would at least hope people know the etiquette.
Gifting experts from Texas to New York have been sharing their top gifting tips this festive season, and have warned there are certain items we should steer clear of when buying women gifts.
Things like household cleaning supplies, weighing scales, anti-aging skincare products, clothes in certain sizes or anything mood-related, like stress balls.
However, one woman took to the forum Mumsnet to share her dissatisfaction with the Secret Santa gifts she received this year, with many shocked in agreement that the gifts given are downright offensive.
Amongst the things she received were chocolates – that expired in 2020 – as well as a ‘bunch of manky old nail varnish, socks that looks like they’ve been worn and some Tassimo pods’.
The socks also ‘stink of stale perfume and are falling to bits’, she added in a follow-up post, while the lip balms ‘have clearly been used because it’s full of fingerprints’.
The woman admitted the nail polish could’ve been salvageable, if it weren’t for the fact she claimed the lids were ‘covered in dust and felt dirty’.
She said there was also nail varnish ‘all over the outer bottles’, suggesting it had been used.
The woman added to her complaint: “It all smells vaguely like charity shop and to be honest, it’s all going to go in the bin.
“I’m really disappointed by it and to be honest, extremely confused.”
While she asked the internet if she was being unreasonable with her upset, hundreds agreed that the gifts were ‘grim’.
A user wrote: “Blimey! What did other lucky employees get… or do you think someone’s trying to tell you something?” while others said it looks as though the gifter forgot and just grabbed ‘a load of random crap’ from around their home.
A third penned: ‘Scrooge at his finest!’
However, others said they would assume the gifter could’ve been struggling for cash and urged the woman to forget about it and to buy herself something nice instead.
Meanwhile, another chimed: “Sorry OP, that’s really mean. Even if someone is struggling for money, there’s no excuse for that.”
The woman confirmed management ‘know’ about the gifts and were ‘just as disgusted’ when she opened them at her desk.
“I would genuinely rather have had a cheap bar of chocolate than this”, she added, “giving someone used items is just grim.”
“I feel really sad about it,” she penned.
