People Are Sharing The Worst Gift Their Company Gave Them Instead Of A Holiday Bonus, And Wow, I’m Begging Bosses To Stop Doing This Nonsense
It's finally December, which for some people means time off from work to see their family or, if they're really lucky, maybe even a Christmas bonus. For others though, it's the time of year where they may receive a 'gift' from their employer.
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Sounds nice, right? Well, in theory, maybe. But sometimes bosses can be a bit, well...out of touch and end up giving their employees gifts that are strange, perplexing, or even downright insulting. So much so that they probably would have preferred that their bosses give them nothing instead.
Recently, over in the r/antiwork subreddit, Reddit user u/juliejujube asked "What is the worst holiday gift an employer has given to you?" And people did not hold back. Here are some of the wildest answers:
1."A $1 lottery ticket with a note reading, 'We have to share if you win!'"
2."The opportunity to purchase $50 tickets to the company holiday party. This is a multi-billion dollar Fortune 100 company. I've never gone. Work is supposed to pay me not the other way around."
3."My mom’s boss gave everyone a pen (a really crappy, normal pen). He printed her name out on normal white printer paper and scotch taped it down the side of the pen. This sounds made up even to me as I type it, but it’s still in our junk drawer."
4."I don’t drink and almost never show anger. They gave each of us a bottle of wine with a wine glass that had different sayings that were apparently specifically chosen for each of us. They gave me one that said, 'If you touch my wine, I’ll punch you in the throat.' This is at a health care company that provides care to disabled children."
5."Not a gift, but when we ended the year, my boss had us all come in on the weekend (when the business is closed) to announce that the company made $2 million more than projected that year and that we did such a great job that he expects us to double that margin for the new year. We were all being paid around $15/hour and not a single person there got a raise or bonus."
6."Everyone at my job is completely overworked. They gave us a mindfulness advent calendar. Behind every door, there was a training exercise you could do at work to be more 'mindful.'"
7."A $50 gift card that was deducted from my paycheck a month later."
8."One year, all the employees received a 20% off coupon to spend at the manager’s friend’s furniture store. We all worked part time (so they didn’t have to provide benefits) and we hadn’t seen a raise in over two years."
9."My company holiday 'party.' They advertised it as having a few speeches and corporate presentations (the boring part) followed by a party. The speeches took the entire time and the party was therefore cancelled. Then the same thing happened the next year. This was a year-end corporate meeting that they advertised as a party so people would attend."
10."Five basic tea lights and a holder for six."
11."A keychain. What the fuck? Am I supposed to pay my bills with it?"
12."Left-over promotional giveaway coffee mugs. My personal favorite was the one that said 'We Value Your Business!'"
13."I worked for a small healthcare company, and the first year I worked for them, they gave us a beautiful Christmas party where we drew numbers for neat little gifts. It was nothing big, but to me, it was the thought that counted. The second year, we were sent a text and told to help 'celebrate the season' by stopping in on our break for a cookie and some punch with the HR guy. Yeah, I felt very unvalued as an employee at that point. Like, 'thanks for your dedication; here's a fucking cookie.'"
14."When I was employed at a bakery, I was working 60 to 70 hours a week due to the holiday rush. I got super excited when my boss handed me a gift since I wasn’t expecting anything at all — until I opened it. It was a loaf of bread that I had baked over a week prior and that I would’ve been able to buy for $1 with my employee discount anyway."
15."Just yesterday, my manager left out a pie tray covered in tin foil with a handwritten note saying, 'Thank you, team, for all your hard work!' I lifted up the foil expecting a pie. He had just poured some saltine crackers in an empty pie tray."
16."My company changed logos in June. So for the holidays, we were given the leftover hats and T-shirts with the old logo as gifts. But not everyone got one because there weren't enough. So they asked if anyone who didn't want theirs would be willing to give it to someone who did."
17."A book of poetry written by the owner of the company."
18."Former teacher here. The principal game me a printed white piece of copy paper with a lifesaver mint stapled to it and a note that said, 'You were a lifesaver this year.'"
19."Two small containers of Play-Doh and a box of crayons. My supervisor said his employees acted like a bunch of kids, so he got us kid stuff. The guy was a total jackoff."
20."This year, we got coffee cups dated for an event we had in 2018."
21."The owner of my company loves to give us ~unique~ gifts for Christmas. Last year, he decided to give the men and women different gifts. The men all received a bottle of craft whiskey (even though one guy is a recovering alcoholic). The women? We all received an autographed photo of Patrick Dempsey. I had to unwrap it in front of him, and he was so excited for my reaction. My brain had to go into double time to try and remember who Patrick Dempsey even was.
Please, please, please just give us the money instead of crap we then have to deal with or throw away."
22."Everyone was given a calendar with each month having pictures of the business owner. If that wasn't bad enough, the dates in the calendar were off. My best guess is that the business owner had this calendar made to give as a really narcissistic gift to their family and when all the dates were misprinted, they gave it out to their staff instead."
23."Gift cards to a barbecue restaurant that's also owned by our CEO. They have one location, and it's 2,000 miles away from where I live."
24."$5 gift card to a local restaurant that had closed down years before 🤦♂️."
25."A cookie with the amount of millions the company made that year written on it in frosting. Holy shit, give me a cut of that money or give me nothing. I don’t want a literal fucking cookie rubbing in my face how much you undercut me."
26.And finally, "The company commercial on DVD.'"
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
