We've all heard the saying, "it's the thought that counts" when it comes to gifts.
But not all thoughts are kind.
While Christmas should be honored with well intended gift exchanges, some people take the opportunity to surprise unknowing receivers with something unpleasant.
Whether they're inspired by a grudge or petty argument, a passive aggressive gift can really spoil the holiday cheer.
Redditor e2hawkeye wanted to hear people's stories about purposefully bad gifts, and asked:
"What was the most passive aggressive gift you ever got for Christmas?"
Saving A Marriage
"My step-dad got my mom Poo-Pourri last year for Christmas. She was pissed lol"
- MrMet25134
"Poo-pourri saved my marriage. I was about to divorce his ass."
- [Reddit]
What's In The Box?
"My girlfriend's decapitated head in a box."
"My brother likes jokes, and homages, and movies; particularly thrillers from the mid 90s. And he adores David Fincher..."
"However he took that one a bit far with his 'homage' the the end of Seven. I've only just forgiven him."
"It was a long 2 weeks of semi-aggressive communication and slights."
- ProgressingSlowly
Not Missing Out On A Good Deal
"My dad said he got grave plots for my sister and I."
"It wasn't the only thing, but he said he got them cheap and didn't want to pass them up 😂"
- ThatFinnishGu
A Potato Legend
"When I was 9 and my brother was 7 we got potatoes for Xmas. (Coal was clearly too hard.)"
"We have that year on video and I’m clearly devastated."
"My little bro was a legend, tho. He states ‘I’m going to have it for breakfast.’ "
"We have a photo of him that year proudly eating his potato for Xmas. He made my mum cook it."
- Lozzif
Oh, Lord
"Lord of the rings films on DVD usually came out to buy around my birthday."
"I wasn't into it, but my Dad was."
"He got it for me several years in a row and then promptly put it on his shelf to watch whenever he wanted."
"When I moved out, I made a point to take them with me since they 'were mine' and he was furious. Yes, the petty revenge was delicious."
- JustJenR
A Gift For Himself
"When I was thirteen my dad told me got me a Christmas present."
"I was soooooo excited! I grew up in a traditional family where my mom did most of the cooking, cleaning, Christmas shopping etc."
"My dad did not normally purchase our Christmas gifts although he paid for them. My mom was always the one that did the majority of the shopping and preparing for Christmas and my dad worked as a full time electrical engineer."
"So I genuinely was excited to see what he picked out for me when Christmas Day came. It was a Sally Fields cookie cookbook."
"I didn’t love baking. My much awaited gift was actually just a nudge to make my dad some homemade cookies."
"I laugh at it now but it was a bit of a disappointment."
- Kylielou2
A Game For A Gamer
"I am 24 and a casual gamer. It's one of my favorite hobbies, though I have many hobbies."
"Anyway my Stepmother always hated it and my Dad who used to love gaming had given it up all together in some facade to appeal to her."
"Last Christmas I received a family game that resembled Kerplunk but with noodles... for Ages 3-7."
"I got her a £50 necklace because my Dad advised strongly for it."
- [Reddit]
Sabotage Chocolates
"My husbands foster mother was really vain, always talking about how small her waistline was— she claimed it was 21” and how at 45 years old she could still put on her wedding dress."
"Unfortunately for me, I had a lot of stress in my life, and at 18 years old I was 8 months pregnant and really hadn’t gained much weight. Looking back at pictures I realize I was really underweight."
"So she buys from the Walmart store this gigantic box of chocolate— the cheap stuff, it literally was 2’x3’."
"I don’t think she knew this but I have a chocolate allergy so the gift was useless. But I always thought this was a sabotage gift to protect her self-image."
- sandee4872
Getting Their Goat
"My parents split up when I was 10."
"My father was majorly depressive and abusive. My mum struggled after the separation and we were pinching pennies just to get by."
"He even refused to pay the $13/fortnight of child support for 3 kids - which didn’t even cover bus fares for 2 days."
"After the divorce had finally settled, a year or two later, my brothers and I received Christmas cards in the mail from his parents. They were those cards donating a goat to a third world country..."
- Shakierag
Dear Diary
"A diary 'to write down my thoughts so I dont talk so much' "
- realdappermuis
Ho ho ho
"My wife gave a very passive/aggressive gift to her brother's girlfriend one year for xmas. It wasn't actually the gift itself, it was the wrapping paper.
You see, this girlfriend was the woman who cheated with him on his wife, causing the marriage to fail and the the family to be split up. As you might imagine, my wife didn't care much for this woman. So, a gift was purchased and wrapped in Xmas paper. The paper had 'Ho Ho Ho' written all over it. Basically, just white paper with Ho Ho Ho.
Everyone got it. New Years was not fun."
You can't fall off of a video game, just sayin'
"When I was a kid I played a lot of video games and my dad gave me a skateboard in hopes I would go out more often.
Eventually that worked, but with a mountain bike"
Backpacks are just more practical
"For whatever reason, it drives my boyfriend's mother and aunts bonkers that I use a backpack instead of carrying around a purse a lot of the time (like for going to/from work or just general travels). Every year, someone from that little family group always thinks they're doing me a favor by getting me a purse. They're also not even that great of quality (like it's that cheap pleather that scuffs and looks like crap after a week of use)."
I would boycott Christmas too
"Half a bar of chocolate , I got my sister the $100 in cash that she insisted on and she got me absolutely nothing at first , but she was shamed by everyone else at the party so she threw a half eaten bar of chocolate at me that she was eating and told me that this was my present.
This year I am not celebrating Christmas. Nobody gets any presents. It will be just an ordinary day for me."
What are you trying to say, mom?
"My mom's bought me a stationary bike and two scales. I feel like she's trying to tell me something"
This is why they don't visit
"I once had an entire sarcastic christmas where all my family members unanimously decided to get me gag gifts without telling each other. It wasn't a planned thing they just all got me insulting presents without realizing it. I ended up with EU de toilet cologne, a poo emoji stuffed animal (im 23) a shirt with a far right political cartoon insulting Bernie Sanders and a maga hat (im the only family liberal) and a candy cellphone in an iPhone box
Grandma: why don't you come visit?"
A gift only a mother in law would give
"My grandmother (dad's mother) once got my mom tablecloths for Christmas. My mom was not impressed"
At least you can make a ton of mashed potatoes...?
"My mom got my wife a 10 pound bag of potatoes.
When my wife asked literally 'what the heck', my mom said 'I worked the church food bank last weekend and I knew you were poor so I got you something to help out.'
Yeah.
Mom was something else."
GiphySpeaks for itself
"a t-shirt saying 'I'm not arguing with you, I'm just explaining why I'm right'"
That backfired
"Cousin gave me a Spice Girls album hoping I wouldn't like it and would give it to her. 'You're a boy, you probably don't even know what Spice Girls is. If you don't like it, you should just give it to me.'
I listened to it so many times in spite if her that eventually all I really really really wanted was a zig-a zig-ahhhh."
That wasn't very subtle...
"My aunt gave me a box of 'Thank You' note cards.
On the gift tag, she wrote: 'You should try using these sometime.'"
'Santa' should mind his business!
"When I was in middle school, going through my tomboy phase, 'santa' gave me a book called How to Raise a Lady, and when I opened it my mom just looked at me and said 'Maybe Santa is trying to give a hint.'"
GiphySo who got the iPod?
"When I was younger I managed to somehow lose my retainer at a Denny's. We searched everywhere, including the dumpster for over 30 minutes... my parents were furious. Fast forward a month, and the new iPod is released, and I really want it. I tell my parents that is the only thing I want for Christmas.
Come Christmas time, we are opening gifts and I see one that matches the shape of the iPod box... and sure enough, after unwrapping it - it's the new iPod! I hop up and immediately hug both my parents and I'm jumping around in joy! I sit back down and begin to open the box, and inside this iPod box is a new retainer. No iPod"
Don't take your anger out on children
"All growing up my aunt always got me really nice clothing. I always got sweaters or sweatpants from American Eagle or Hollister which were very popular in my tween years. Then, she got mad at my mom for something and I started getting very juvenile presents including a children's robe with Hello Kitty on it that didn't fit, a plastic bracelet loom when I was 17, and a cork board in the shape of a flower."
At least you could donate them
"Pack of underwear from my mother in law 4 sizes too big. Smiled, thanked her, though that was the end. Told my husband I was going to donate them as they were too big. He told his mother and her reaction was, well she will eventually grow into them."
I bet they never forgot their anniversary again
"One year everyone forgot my grandparents' anniversary (it's sometime in October). That Christmas every family got a professional picture of my grandparents with their anniversary on a plaque on the frame."
Those are the worst gifts under any circumstances
"A bible and a pretty hair band.
I'm a lesbian. At the time I was very butch."
Thanks a bunch, dad.
"They've definitely come from my father, both times.
1st time, I had a bad looking beard, so he gave me a pack of razors and some shaving cream.
2nd time, I asked for a pretty large gift -- a laptop. Apparently he didn't like that. He gave me a watch. A watch that he was previously given as a gift but didn't want. A watch that didn't work."
I think you can sue your boss for this...
"I had a real bully of a boss that delighted in making me miserable, but I was broke and desperate for a job so I didn't have a lot of options. The bullying kept escalating so I stupidly went to HR (because this was before I realized HR is there to protect the company not the employee). I told them what she'd been doing and gave them as much evidence as I had and told them that she was creating a hostile environment and I was genuinely concerned for my mental health.
Nothing came of the HR meeting and apparently that comment got back to my boss. Christmas rolls around and at the company party the bosses would always give their employees some little something. My co-workers got gift certificates to get a massage. I got a little tin bank that says 'I'm saving up for some therapy.'"
I'm guessing this is why they're an ex now
"My ex bought a plush raccoon, and then drew tire marks on it to commemorate the time I hit a raccoon while driving. I felt bad about hitting it and cried. Ended up crying again Christmas morning."
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Unlike introverts who tend to shy away from engaging in random discussions, those who are comfortable–or too comfortable–in their own skin love to get all chatty.
That doesn't mean they have anything significant to say.
"What’s the weirdest thing someone casually told you as if it were totally normal?"
People whom you don't know tend to overshare as these Redditors experienced.
A High Request
"A story from a friend - in Colorado, someone once asked, 'Could you watch my wolves, I can pay you in weed.'"
"There's a lot to unpack in that question!"
– surlymoe
"You don't unpack wolves, you keep them together."
– hwarang_
Unsolicited Prediction
"Husband (30) and I were pushing our shopping cart out of the grocery store when a random man (who honestly looked like dumbledore) looked at my husband and said 'take my hat, you're gonna need it, you'll be bald very soon.' Obviously my husband didn't take it. It was super odd of him to say because my husband had a FULL head of hair."
"Three months later, my husband was diagnosed with a condition that made him lose all of his hair. Weird coincidence."
– hollyjollyaf
Self-Casting
"A guy once told me how he loved the feeling of wearing casts, so he'd put casts on himself- for days or weeks on end. Even if it meant he couldn't drive and would be stuck at home the entire time. He'd use vacation time just to wear full leg & arm casts."
– Present_Dust_2308
Homophobic Homosexual
A homophobic guy I know: 'Being gay is a choice.'"
"I said something like - ok, choose to be gay for a day, an hour, a single minute if you can."
"Guy - That's easy, I'm attracted to men all the time, I just choose to only like girls because I'm not gay."
"Me - Ummm..."
– discostud1515
Longheld Grudge
"Once, an older woman came up to me on the street, took hold of my wrists and simply said 'they ripped out my afterbirth', and then carried on walking."
– JennyW93
"It's strange to grab strangers. But one day in Walmart, my granny walked ahead of me, and reached to grab me to show me something, without looking and she was pulling on an old lady's arm obliviously, and the old lady's eyes were like O.O."
"My grandma didn't even apologize, she just let go and yelled at me to stay closer."
– chzygorditacrnch
A Hairdresser-In-Training
"I was getting my hair done this last weekend by my daughter at her cosmetology school. One of her fellow students was excited to meet me. She talked nonstop and eventually told me that she has hemorrhoids and that she has her husband push them back in. So much TMI from a stranger!"
– Digjam823
You never know about the personal lives of people you see on a regular basis.
Squeaky Clean
"I had a college professor on the first day of class say that she is obsessed with Q-tips and cleaning her ears and that her family has to limit her to 3 a day-"
– lokeilou
Here's The Story...
"That they have 6 kids, all with different dads & each dad is in prison."
– ChyCgx2
"I once had a coworker who had seven kids with five different women and he'd constantly complain about how most of his paycheck went to child support. You uh, dug your own grave, pal. I'm really not sympathetic to your plight."
– apocalypticradish
It's the end of the world as we know it.
End Of Civilization
"I know a guy, we don't talk often but due to business we cross paths on occasion. More or less every time we talk he asks if I'm ready for the total societal collapse coming next week, or Tuesday, or at the end of the month.. and so on."
"I just tell him that it's not gonna happen; he usually then asks about my "crystal ball" so I remind him that I've been right every time."
– rkpjr
Zombie Apocalypse
"I went to a ComicCon type event in my city years ago(Walking Dead was a new show, first season for reference) and went to a panel about zombies. They talked about historical zombie lore, the first zombie movies, and the exciting first season of the new show Walking Dead, with some actors on the panel. When they opened it up to the audience for questions one of the first ones was, 'what kind of zombies do you predict we’ll have in a real zombie apocalypse? (Fast vs slow)'…panelists don’t really know how to answer, each gives their personal favorite or worst case scenario. Then we get to, 'What do you think the timeline is for the start of a coming zombie apocalypse?' Panelists are kind of like….? Talk about how things usually play out fiction."
“'No, but exactly WHEN do you think we’ll need to be fully prepared for zombies in real life?' Like, guys, these are actors and media studies academics, first of all they don’t have the level of belief you do and second, the people you should be asking about this stuff are probably biologists."
– AlternativeAcademia
Whenever I feel threatened by a homeless person who is pressuring me to hand over them cash, I tell them, "I''m allergic to corn."
The random phrase throws them and in the brief moment they assess what they heard I'm afforded more time to distance myself from them.
It always works, especially when they realize I'm all kinds of crazy and not worth targeting.
